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Citation |
Fraser E, Downing M, Biernacki K, McKenzie D, Ponsford J. J. Neurotrauma 2019; ePub(ePub): ePub. |
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Affiliation |
Monash Epworth Rehabilitation Research Centre, Richmond, Victoria, Australia ; jennie.ponsford@monash.edu. |
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Copyright |
(Copyright © 2019, Mary Ann Liebert Publishers) |
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DOI |
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PMID |
31017049 |
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Abstract |
The persistence of injury-related cognitive impairments can have devastating consequences for everyday function after traumatic brain injury (TBI). This longitudinal study examined the association of long-term cognitive recovery in 109 adults (71% male) experiencing complicated mild-to-severe TBI with age, premorbid intelligence (IQ) and injury severity measured by post traumatic amnesia (PTA) duration. Participants' twice completed measures of premorbid IQ (National Adult Reading Test), attention (Digit Symbol Coding Test), memory (Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test) and executive function (Trail Making Test Part-B) at a mean of 43.73 days post-TBI and again at a mean of 3.70 years (range 23-72 months) post-injury. A healthy control group comprising 63 adults (59% male) completed the measures once. At initial assessment, TBI participants performed significantly worse on all measures compared to the healthy control group. Within the TBI group, shorter PTA duration, younger age and higher premorbid IQ were associated with better initial cognitive performance. Cognitive task performance improved significantly in the TBI group at follow-up between two to five years later but remained significantly below control group means. Notably, higher premorbid IQ and younger age were associated with greater cognitive recovery at follow-up, whereas PTA duration was not. These findings support the role of cognitive reserve and age in cognitive recovery following TBI and may inform prognostication and rehabilitation. Additional research is needed to elucidate the biological mechanisms of cognitive reserve in cognitive recovery after TBI. Language: en |
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Keywords |
AGE; COGNITIVE FUNCTION; TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY |