Monday, March 24, 2025

Childhood brain injuries can affect educational attainment in adulthood – even a concussion can be enough

Tampere University

A study conducted at Tampere University shows that a blow to the head can significantly impact a child’s or adolescent’s future education and, consequently, their career. Even a mild concussion can have far-reaching consequences.

Childhood brain injuries can affect education in the long term, according to research by doctoral researcher Julius Möttönen at Tampere University. The study compared 0–17-year-old children and adolescents who had suffered brain injuries with those of the same age who had sustained limb injuries, such as ankle or wrist fractures.

The results indicate that those who had suffered brain injuries achieved a lower level of education over a 20-year follow-up period compared to those who had sustained limb injuries.

The study utilised data from the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare's care register for health and education data register in the period of1998–2018. A total of 8,487 individuals diagnosed with brain injuries were chosen from the registers. They were compared with 15,552 individuals who had had an ankle or wrist fracture. At the end of the follow-up, participants had to be at least 26 years old to ensure that the impact on educational attainment was examined as reliably as possible.

Those who had suffered brain injuries were less likely to complete higher education degrees than the comparison group. Individuals with more specific internal brain injury diagnoses were more likely to have no higher education compared to those with milder concussions.

Even a single concussion can affect educational attainment. Patients who had suffered concussions were found to have significantly lower educational levels in the follow-up compared to those who had sustained limb injuries.

“A mild, single concussion is often considered a relatively harmless event, but our research suggests that it can have long-term effects on learning and cognitive abilities. This should get more attention in both healthcare and schools,” Möttönen points out.

The study highlights the need to provide better support and information to children and adolescents who have suffered brain injuries, as well as their parents. This would help to ensure equal opportunities for education and success in life.

The research article Impact of childhood traumatic brain injury on educational attainment in Finland from 1998 to 2018: A retrospective register-based nationwide cohort study was published in the European Journal of Epidemiology on 23 March 2025.

Journal

European Journal of Epidemiology

DOI

10.1007/s10654-025-01218-9

Article Title

Impact of childhood traumatic brain injury on educational attainment in Finland from 1998 to 2018: a retrospective register-based nationwide cohort study

Article Publication Date

23-Mar-2025

Childhood tuberculosis cases up by 26% in the EU/EE

Tuberculosis (TB) in children and adolescents serves as indicator for ongoing disease transmission. For the third year in a row, European Union and European Economic Area countries saw an uptick of TB diagnoses among children under the age of 15

European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)

Tuberculosis surveillance and monitoring in Europe 2025 - 2023 data — image:
An estimated 225 000 people fell ill with tuberculosis (TB) in
2023 in the WHO European Region, equivalent to 24 cases
per 100 000 population. In the European
Union and European Economic Area (EU/ EEA), 38 993 cases of TB were reported, resulting in a notification rate of 8.6 per 100 000 population in the EU/ EEA.
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Credit: © Science Photo LibrarNew data published by ECDC and the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe [1] show that with almost 39 000 reported tuberculosis cases in 2023, the 29 European Union and European Economic Area (EU/ EEA) countries continue to see increases in TB notifications. Given that young children have an increased risk of developing tuberculosis disease during the first year after infection, childhood TB serves as a marker for ongoing transmission within a community.

The new data for 2023 indicate that children and adolescents under the age of 15 accounted for 4.3% of all TB cases in the EU/EEA. And reported cases in this age group have gone up, even if only slightly, for the third year in a row. Between 2022 and 2023, notifications of paediatric TB rose from 1 341 to 1 689 cases. In addition, for one in five children with tuberculosis in the region it is unknown whether they completed their TB treatment. Incomplete treatment may result in deteriorating health outcomes such as the emergence of drug-resistant TB and further transmission of the disease to others.

ECDC Director Pamela Rendi-Wagner stresses that [2]:

"The time to act to end TB is now. With just five years to meet our 2030 targets, it is critical that Europe renews its focus on prevention and timely, effective treatment. With the rise of drug-resistant TB, the cost of inaction today will be paid by us all tomorrow."

Persistent challenge: treatment success rates lag behind

Similar to previous years, the treatment success rate in 2023 was lower in the EU/EEA countries than in the rest of the WHO European Region (67.9% versus 77.2%, respectively). This represents a substantial gap between the current treatment success rates and the global targets set by the WHO, which aim for successful outcomes in at least 90% of patients.

Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) remains a significant challenge: only roughly every second (56%) MDR-TB patient successfully finished their treatment regimen according to the released data. This clearly shows consistent problems to effectively manage and treat drug-resistant tuberculosis across the region. Possible reasons for this could be lack of treatment adherence, delays in diagnosis, and insufficient access to appropriate therapies.

Despite improvements in TB diagnostics and care, the persistence of MDR-TB and other drug-resistant forms of TB underscores the urgent need for more effective treatment strategies and better patient management, such as new and shorter injection-free oral treatment regimes. [3]

----Ends----

References/notes to editors:

[1] Tuberculosis surveillance and monitoring in Europe 2025 - 2023 data.
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, WHO Regional Office for Europe. Tuberculosis surveillance and monitoring in Europe 2024 – 2022 data. Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe and Stockholm: European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control; 2024.
Available from: https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications-data/tuberculosis-surveillance-and-monitoring-europe-2025-2023-data

[2] The Sustainable Development Goals Target 3.3 as part of goal 3 on ‘Good Health and Well-Being to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. It outlines for communicable diseases: By 2030, end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases. Available from: https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal3

[3] A recent study from 13 countries in the European Region showed they had a treatment success rate over 80%.

[4] The WHO European Region covers 53 countries from Europe and Central Asia, along with Israel.

[5] World Tuberculosis Day is observed on 24 March each year. Its overall goal is to raise awareness about the burden of TB worldwide and the status of TB prevention and control efforts. TB elimination is defined as less than one case of TB disease per 1 million population per year. You can find more materials around World TB Day here: https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/news-events/world-tuberculosis-day-2025

UK

Study shows almost all people claiming Universal Credit struggle to afford to eat properly

University of Nottingham

A new study has shown that almost all people claiming Universal Credit aren’t able to eat properly, with many never eating fruit or vegetables, and a significant proportion regularly not eating for whole days at a time, leading to deficiencies in vital nutrients.

The Benefits and Nutrition Study (BEANS) was led by the University of Nottingham’s Division of Food, Nutrition and Dietetics to examine food insecurity among people who claim Universal Credit. Their findings, published in the European Journal of Nutrition, show that 85% of those in receipt of Universal Credit are food insecure and struggle to eat properly, with 73% reporting that they go whole days without food and 39% never eating fruit and 16% never eating vegetables.

The researchers also found that the loss of the £20 per week uplift in Universal Credit added during covid resulted in an almost doubling of reported reliance on food banks.

Household food insecurity is defined by having limited and uncertain access to adequate food and is currently a significant health concern. Food insecurity is associated with a range of adverse health conditions including; childhood stunting, respiratory disease and, paradoxically, obesity and diabetes.

For this study, data was collected from 328 adults aged 16-65 from across the UK who were in receipt of Universal Credit, with the household equivalised income ranging from £135.58-£300.67 per household per week depending on the number of adults and children. Those households on less than £200 per week were found to be the most at risk of food insecurity.

Study participants completed an online survey that asked them a range of questions about their food and shopping habits. They were also asked to provide details of their food intake over a four day period.

The data showed that participants were consuming an extremely limited diet containing few protein sources and minimal or, in some cases, zero fruit and vegetables. There was also a reliance on bread, something respondants referred to as a ‘beige’ diet. The experts analysed the micronutrient content of participants’ diets and found them to have very low intakes of vitamin A, iron, selenium, potassium, iodine and magnesium which, for many, was considerably below dietary requirements to support health.

Dr Simon Welham from the University of Nottingham who led the study, said: “Although we know that there is a link between food insecurity and poverty we were surprised by the results as it showed clearly that nearly everyone claiming Universal Credit faced food insecurity over the period of the study. It was also starkly apparent that the choices people are having to make about food will have an effect on their health, with a lack of fruit and vegetables and limited food diversity leading to micronutrient deficiencies.

“Selenium in particular stood out as one of the micronutrients people weren’t getting enough of, with the majority consuming below a level known as the lower reference nutrient intake. The lower reference nutrient intake defines an intake that is adequate for only the 2.5% of the population with very lowest requirements (typically the smallest and least metabolically active). Everyone else (97.5%) requires more. In this study, almost 70% of Universal Credit recipients consumed below this lower reference nutrient intake level. Selenium is essential as plays an indispensable role as an antioxidant to protect against damage from oxidative stress. If we can’t do this then significant tissue injury occurs and the prevalence of age associated diseases such as heart disease and cancer is far greater.”

Additionally, the study showed that people who lived further away from the shops were also more likely to experience food insecurity as they would have to make more trips on public transport to get their shopping and were limited to what they could carry, so they may have to rely on more expensive local shops with a much reduced variety of products.

Dr Welham continues: “We would expect that, as the cost of living has risen significantly since we carried out this study, the situation for people on Universal Credit today is even bleaker. This is a complex issue to solve and there are many reasons why people can’t access better food, but this study shows that interventions are needed to ensure that everyone can obtain an appropriate diet at an affordable price, or large numbers of society’s very poorest people will experience a rapid decline in health.”