TY - JOUR PY - 1991// TI - Patterns of neuropsychological impairment after severe blunt head injury JO - Journal of nervous and mental disease A1 - Tate, R. L. A1 - Fenelon, B. A1 - Manning, M. L. A1 - Hunter, Michael SP - 117 EP - 126 VL - 179 IS - 3 N2 - A consecutive series of 100 subjects with severe blunt head injuries was followed up 6 years after trauma. Neuropsychological test performances of 82 subjects and of a noninjured control group were analyzed by two principal components analyses (PCAs). Each PCA extracted 15 factors relating to a range of cognitive impairments, as well as neuropsychological features consistent with posttraumatic personality changes. Measures identified by the PCAs were applied to 85 head-injured subjects in the series to examine the incidence of impairment in four neuropsychological areas: disorders of learning and memory, neuropsychological features consistent with posttraumatic personality change, slowness in rate of information processing, and a range of basic neuropsychological skills. Overall, impairments occurred in 70% of the series. Disorders of learning and memory were the most common type of deficit (56.5%), with disturbances in basic neuropsychological skills the least frequent (16.5%). Variability among subjects with respect to the types and combinations of neuropsychological impairments was a characteristic feature of this clinical group, but the largest proportion (one-third) demonstrated isolated impairments. The implications of the incidence and selectivity of neuropsychological impairments are discussed.
Language: en
LA - en SN - 0022-3018 UR - http://dx.doi.org/ ID - ref1 ER -