Subtle Motor Findings During Recovery from Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury: A Preliminary Report

Pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a heterogeneous condition, varying in both severity and sequelae. The long-term motor deficits following severe TBI requiring inpatient rehabilitation are better established than those following milder forms of TBI. The authors examined motor performance 2 and 12 months postinjury in children without overt motor impairment using standard measures of upper limb function and the Physical and Neurological Examination for Subtle Signs (PANESS). The PANESS was sensitive to differences between children with TBI and uninjured children as well as to changes in children with TBI over time. These data suggest that subtle motor deficits are present after milder forms of TBI and, particularly those related to balance and gait, may persist even 12 months postinjury.

Childhood obsessive-compulsive disorder: a prospective follow-up study

Twenty-five of 27 patients (93%) who had participated in a study of severe primary obsessive-compulsive disorder with onset in childhood or adolescence, were seen 2-7 yrs after initial examination (mean, 4.4 yrs). They were compared to a group of normal controls matched for age, sex and IQ and followed up for the same period. Continued psychopathology was striking for the patients, with only seven (28%), three males and four females, receiving no psychiatric diagnosis at follow-up. Seventeen subjects (68%) still had obsessive-compulsive disorder, 12 patients (48%) had another psychiatric disorder, most commonly anxiety and/or depression; neither initial response to clomipramine or any other baseline variable predicted outcome.