The head injury is not a cause of ADHD, but rather a result of excessive risk-taking, according to an article published in the British Medical Journal.

There have been studies done that link moderate to severe traumatic brain injury in older children to ADHD. These studies suggest that mild traumatic brain injury could also be linked to ADHD.

The researchers wanted to know whether or not head injury that occurs before the age of 2 might cause ADHD. A diagnosis of ADHD cannot be made before that age, Keenan noted.

For the study in the British Medical Journal, the researchers collected data on 62,088 children who were registered in a British health improvement network database. The researchers compared the children with head injuries to two other groups: children with a burn/scald injury before the age of 2, and all the other non-injured children.

The researchers wanted to determine if a relationship between head injury and ADHD was realted to behavioral traits that would make children more likely to be diagnosed versus the head injury itself.

The researchers found that children with early head injury did have a 90 percent higher incidence of ADHD diagnosis before they were 10, compared with children in the general population. However, children with a scalding injury also had a higher risk of being diagnosed with ADHD, 70 percent to be exact. Therefore, the head injury did not appear to be the cause of ADHD. The researchers felt that this finding may mean that some very young children are already showing behavioral traits that are the hallmarks of ADHD.

Children with early injury should receive routine developmental and behavioral surveillance by their pediatrician, as well as injury prevention counseling, Early injury may be an indicator of attention problems in some children.

Other research has found that a head injury or burn injury occurring before 2 years of age are equal risk factors for a diagnosis of ADHD before 10 years of age.

ADHD is a highly heritable disease. Approximately 85 percent of ADHD children have a family history of ADHD. Children with ADHD are impulsive, hyperactive, distractible and inattentive, and are accident-prone, and thus more likely to put themselves at risk for injury. References
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