Poor One-Year Cognitive Outcome Common After Mild TBI

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 16, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- For patients with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), poor one-year cognitive outcome is common, according to a study published online Feb. 16 in Neurology.

Andrea Lauren Christman Schneider, M.D., Ph.D., from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia, and colleagues developed and established concurrent validity of a clinically relevant definition of poor cognitive outcomes one year after mTBI in a prospective cohort study of 656 participants aged 17 years or older presenting within 24 hours of mTBI and 156 demographically similar healthy controls. Poor one-year cognitive outcome was defined as cognitive impairment, cognitive decline, or both.

The researchers observed an association for poor one-year cognitive outcome with worse one-year functional outcome, more neurobehavioral symptoms, greater psychological distress, and lower satisfaction with life, establishing validity. At one year, 13.5 and 4.5 percent of participants with mTBI and controls, respectively, had a poor cognitive outcome. Education, health insurance, preinjury depression, hyperglycemia, and a Rotterdam Computed Tomography Score ≥3 were included in the final multivariable prediction model, which achieved an area under the curve of 0.69 for prediction of poor one-year cognitive outcome; the odds of poor one-year cognitive outcome were increased more than twofold for each variable.

"More research is needed to find out the role of cognitive rehabilitation on people with more mild brain injuries who are also at risk for poor cognitive outcomes, and how to predict who falls into this risk category," a coauthor said in a statement.

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