Brain Development in Young Children Following Mild Traumatic Brain Injury - Pilot Study

Inclusion criteria

• Patient group with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) :

• Children aged between 36 months (3 years) and 71 months and 31 days (5 years; before their 6th birthday)
• Presentation to the emergency department within 48 hours post-injury
• Documented, unintentional traumatic event (e.g. blow, fall, etc.) resulting in non-penetrating head injury
• Diagnosis of mTBI (World Health Organization (WHO) paediatric diagnostic criteria)
• Control group with orthopaedic injury:

• Children aged between 36 months (3 years) and 71 months and 31 days (5 years; before their 6th birthday)
• Presentation to the emergency department within 48 hours post-injury
• Documented, unintentional traumatic event (e.g. blow, fall, etc.) resulting in trauma to an upper or lower limb
• Diagnosis of simple fracture, sprain, contusion or unspecified trauma to a limb (mild).

Exclusion criteria

• Diagnosis of previous TBI (any severity, any age)
• Intentional injury,
• Administration of sedative drugs that can alter brain function
• Complications following injury
• MRI contraindication,
• Parent non-fluent in French,
• Prematurity,
• Diagnosis of a severe neurological, developmental, or psychiatric disorder
• Children in foster care at the time of recruitment