# Pediatric Mild Traumatic Brain Injury and the ABCD Study: A Prospective Behavioral, Psychiatric, Neurocognitive, Imaging, and Genetic Investigation

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · 2023 · $448,135

## Abstract

Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is a major public health problem in the United States. Data from the
Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study afford our team an opportunity to significantly
advance the study of mTBI-associated behavioral, psychiatric, and neurocognitive problems which are
very controversial. We shall analyze biopsychosocial data generated since 2016 from this ten-year prospective
longitudinal 21-site national study of an enrolled cohort of over 11,000 nine/ten-year old children who have
been subsequently evaluated annually. The study design permits a rare analysis of predictive factors and
mechanisms of post-injury behavioral, psychiatric, and neurocognitive outcomes by examining child and
family variables collected pre-injury and post-injury in the 237 children who have so far suffered a mTBI in
the years subsequent to enrollment. The mTBI group will be compared with two groups of children 1) with a
post-enrollment accidental bone fracture (orthopedic injury; OI); and 2) a lifetime “no injury” (NI) group.
Additional children who have had a mTBI will be identified and will be compared with OI and NI controls in the
first month of the study, and at the end of year 2 and middle of year 4 of the five-year study.
 There are three unique aspects of the proposed study. 1) Pre-injury and post-injury sequential
structural and functional neuroimaging data facilitate predictive and mediation analyses of behavioral,
psychiatric, and neurocognitive outcomes using individual pre- versus post-injury changes and group
differences in brain maturation trajectories. 2) Genetic data permit predictive and moderation analyses of
outcomes using a novel systems biology approach not based on candidate genes. 3) The proposed study
evaluates multiple neurocognitive domains before and after mTBI.
 The study will examine 3 major hypotheses: (1) Change in behavioral measures and changes in
neurocognitive function will be of greater magnitude, and new-onset psychiatric disorders will occur at a
significantly higher rate, in children with mTBI compared with children with OI and NI. (2) Behavioral changes,
new-onset psychiatric disorders, and neurocognitive function changes in children will be predicted by pre-injury
child variables (sex, adaptive function, academic and cognitive function, lifetime psychiatric disorders,
behavioral ratings, brain structure and functional MRI measures, and genetic factors), and pre-injury family
variables (socioeconomic status, family function, family psychiatric history) in children with mTBI, OI, and NI.
(3) The occurrence and pattern of behavioral changes, new-onset psychiatric disorders, and neurocognitive
function changes will be mediated by child brain variables (trajectory of brain maturation), post-injury family
variables (functioning and stressors), and injury variables (age at injury, time-since-injury, severity, presence of
a brain lesion, and extent of diffuse axonal injury) and moderated by child gene ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10646161
- **Project number:** 5R01HD105338-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO
- **Principal Investigator:** JEFFREY Edwin MAX
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $448,135
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2022-06-15 → 2027-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10646161

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10646161, Pediatric Mild Traumatic Brain Injury and the ABCD Study: A Prospective Behavioral, Psychiatric, Neurocognitive, Imaging, and Genetic Investigation (5R01HD105338-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10646161. Licensed CC0.

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