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. 2023 May-Jun;38(3):249-258.
doi: 10.1097/HTR.0000000000000806. Epub 2022 Jul 21.

Predictors of High School and College Graduation After Sustaining a Moderate-to-Severe Traumatic Brain Injury

Brittany Wright  1 , Umesh M Venkatesan, Shanti M Pinto, Kelli W Gary, Therese M O'Neil-Pirozzi, Maria Kajankova, Kristin Wilmoth, Ashley Kakkanatt, Laura Dreer, Shannon B Juengst
Affiliations

Predictors of High School and College Graduation After Sustaining a Moderate-to-Severe Traumatic Brain Injury

Brittany Wright et al. J Head Trauma Rehabil. 2023 May-Jun.

Abstract

Objective: To identify early predictors of US high school and college graduation after moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Setting: Inpatient rehabilitation and community.

Participants: TBI Model Systems participants, aged 16 to 24 years, enrolled as high school or college students at time of injury.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Main measures: Successful graduation was defined as having a diploma (high school) or an associate/bachelor's degree (college) at 1-, 2-, or 5-year follow-up. Predictors were sex, race/ethnicity, urbanicity, preinjury substance abuse, primary rehabilitation payer, and functional independence at inpatient rehabilitation discharge.

Method: We descriptively characterized differences between those who did and did not graduate high school and college within the first 5 years postinjury and identified early predictors of successful high school and college graduation using 2 binomial logistic regressions.

Results: Of those with known graduation status, 81.2% of high school and 41.8% of college students successfully graduated. Graduates in both groups were more often White than Black and had more functional independence at discharge. Among high school students, preinjury substance abuse was also a risk factor for not graduating, as was identifying as Hispanic or "other" race.

Conclusions: Sociodemographic factors and disability influence graduation outcomes, requiring structural, institutional, and personal interventions for success.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

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