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. 2009 Fall;21(4):420-9.
doi: 10.1176/jnp.2009.21.4.420.

Aggression after traumatic brain injury: prevalence and correlates

Vani Rao  1 , Paul Rosenberg, Melaine Bertrand, Saeed Salehinia, Jennifer Spiro, Sandeep Vaishnavi, Pramit Rastogi, Kathy Noll, David J Schretlen, Jason Brandt, Edward Cornwell, Michael Makley, Quincy Samus Miles
Affiliations

Aggression after traumatic brain injury: prevalence and correlates

Vani Rao et al. J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2009 Fall.

Abstract

Aggression after traumatic brain injury (TBI) is common but not well defined. Sixty-seven participants with first-time TBI were evaluated for aggression within 3 months of injury. The prevalence of aggression was found to be 28.4%, predominantly verbal aggression. Post-TBI aggression was associated with new-onset major depression (p=0.02), poorer social functioning (p=0.04), and increased dependency in activities of daily living (p=0.03), but not with a history of substance abuse or adult/childhood behavioral problems. Implications of the study include early screening for aggression, evaluation for depression, and consideration of psychosocial support in aggressive patients.

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Conflict of interest statement

Dr. Jason Brandt receives royalties from Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc. on sales of Hopkins Verbal Learning Test and Dr. David Schretlen on sales of Brief Test of Attention. There are no conflicts of interests to declare by other authors on this paper.

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