Citation

Rabinowitz AR, Li X, McCauley SR, Wilde EA, Barnes AF, Hanten G, Mendez D, McCarthy JJ, Levin H. J. Neurotrauma 2015; 32(19): 1488-1496.

Affiliation

University of Pennsylvania, Neurosurgery , Goddard Laboratories , 3710 Hamilton Walk , Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States , 19104 , 732-213-8899 ; rabinowitz.a@gmail.com.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Mary Ann Liebert Publishers)

DOI

10.1089/neu.2014.3555

PMID

25970233

Abstract

Although most mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) patients recover within three months, a subgroup of patients experience persistent symptoms. Yet, the prevalence and predictors of persistent dysfunction in mTBI patients remain poorly understood. In a longitudinal study, we evaluated predictors of symptomatic and cognitive dysfunction in adolescents and young adults with mTBI, as compared with two control groups-patients with orthopedic injuries, and healthy uninjured individuals. Outcomes were assessed three months post injury. Poor symptomatic outcome at 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 three months post injury, over half of the patients with mTBI (52%) exhibited persistently elevated symptoms, and more than a third (36.4%) exhibited poor cognitive outcome. Whereas 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 gender, and acute symptom report were predictors of poor symptomatic outcome at three months. Socioeconomic status was the only significant predictor of poor cognitive outcome at three months.

Language: en