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. 2015 Oct 1;32(19):1488-96.
doi: 10.1089/neu.2014.3555. Epub 2015 Jul 17.

Prevalence and Predictors of Poor Recovery from Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Amanda R Rabinowitz  1 , Xiaoqi Li  2 , Stephen R McCauley  2   3   4 , Elisabeth A Wilde  2   3   4 , Amanda Barnes  2 , Gerri Hanten  2 , Donna Mendez  5 , James J McCarthy  5 , Harvey S Levin  2   3   4
Affiliations

Prevalence and Predictors of Poor Recovery from Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Amanda R Rabinowitz et al. J Neurotrauma. .

Abstract

Although most patients with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) recover within 3 months, a subgroup of patients experience persistent symptoms. Yet, the prevalence and predictors of persistent dysfunction in patients with mTBI remain poorly understood. In a longitudinal study, we evaluated predictors of symptomatic and cognitive dysfunction in adolescents and young adults with mTBI, compared with two control groups-patients with orthopedic injuries and healthy uninjured individuals. Outcomes were assessed at 3 months post-injury. Poor symptomatic outcome was defined as exhibiting a symptom score higher than 90% of the orthopedic control (OC) group, and poor cognitive outcome was defined as exhibiting cognitive performance poorer than 90% of the OC group. At 3 months post-injury, more than half of the patients with mTBI (52%) exhibited persistently elevated symptoms, and more than a third (36.4%) exhibited poor cognitive outcome. The rate of high symptom report in mTBI was markedly greater than that of typically developing (13%) and OC (17%) groups; the proportion of those with poor cognitive performance in the mTBI group exceeded that of typically developing controls (15.8%), but was similar to that of the OC group (34.9%). Older age at injury, female sex, and acute symptom report were predictors of poor symptomatic outcome at 3 months. Socioeconomic status was the only significant predictor of poor cognitive outcome at 3 months.

Keywords: cognitive function; human studies; recovery; traumatic brain injury.

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Figures

<b>FIG. 1.</b>
FIG. 1.
Prevalence of poor recovery across groups at 3 months post-injury. Rates of poor recovery significantly differed across groups for both symptomatic (χ2(2)=24.79, p=4.1e-6) and cognitive (χ 2(2)=8.01, p=0.018) recovery. mTBI, mild traumatic brain injury.
<b>FIG. 2.</b>
FIG. 2.
Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for the prediction of 3-month symptom recovery based on initial (96-h) Rivermead Score, sex, and age at injury.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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