A recent study has discovered that a child who has experienced a concussion, even a mild one, has a 15% lower chance of pursuing higher education in adulthood. This highlights the lasting impact of traumatic brain injuries on learning, regardless of the severity.
The long-term effects of concussions on the brain have become increasingly evident in recent years through scientific research. While much of this research focuses on traumatic brain injuries sustained during adult contact sports, children can also experience unintentional head injuries outside of sports settings.
New research conducted by the University of Tampere in Finland has explored how a traumatic brain injury sustained in childhood can have negative effects on adult education.
“A mild, single concussion is often seen as a relatively minor event, but our study suggests that it can have long-lasting effects on learning and cognitive abilities,” said Julius Möttönen, a doctoral researcher at the university’s Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, who led the study. “This should be given more attention in both healthcare and schools.”
A traumatic brain injury is defined as brain damage or disruption in brain function caused by a sudden external force. It is typically categorized as mild, intermediate, or severe based on clinical findings and brain scans. According to a study conducted in 2023, the incidence of mild pediatric TBIs in Finland has increased between 1998 and 2018.
For the study, researchers gathered data from the Finnish Care Register for Health Care on children aged zero to 17 who had experienced a TBI, comparing them to a reference group of children with limb injuries (such as broken ankles and wrists) to assess educational outcomes in adulthood.
In Finland, education is mandatory from around the age of seven until the completion of secondary education, which usually takes nine years. Attaining the highest tertiary education (licentiate or doctoral degree) typically takes at least 25 years from birth, with many men undergoing about a year of conscription at 19 before pursuing tertiary education. As a result, patients under 26 were excluded from the study as they would not have had sufficient time to complete a full education. The researchers categorized education into three levels: upper secondary education (12 years), lower tertiary education (15 years), and higher tertiary education (over 17 years). Education in Finland is free.
Out of the 136,828 pediatric patient records initially examined, 24,039 contained information on higher education for patients aged over 26. Of these, 8,487 were in the pTBI group, and 15,552 were in the reference group. The average age at the time of injury was approximately 13 in both groups. Within the pTBI group, 89.5% had experienced a concussion, while 10.5% had specific intracranial injuries like brain bleeding.
The study revealed that children with pTBI were about 15% less likely to pursue any form of tertiary education, such as university or college, compared to the reference group. Additionally, those with pTBI were roughly 19% more likely to remain at a lower level of tertiary education, such as a diploma or lower degree, rather than advancing to a higher level. Unsurprisingly, children with specific intracranial injuries were about 22% more likely than those with concussions to not achieve any tertiary education.
“Individuals with pTBI had lower educational achievements at all levels of tertiary education compared to the reference population with orthopedic injuries,” the researchers noted. “Further monitoring of pTBI patients is crucial to identify potential long-term cognitive repercussions leading to lower educational achievements.”
The study was published in the European Journal of Epidemiology.
Source: Tampere University
