Neuropsychological, psychosocial and vocational correlates of the Glasgow Outcome Scale at 6 months post injury: a study of moderate to severe traumatic brain injury patients

• Published in: Brain injury Vol. 12; no. 7; pp. 555 - 567
• Main Authors: SATZ, P, ZAUCHA, K, MARTIN, N, CARON, M. J, NAMEROW, N, BECKER, D, FORNEY, D. L, MCCLEARY, C, ASARNOW, R. F, LIGHT, R, LEVIN, H, KELLY, D, BERGSNEIDER, M, HOVDA, D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Informa UK Ltd 01-07-1998; Taylor & Francis
• Subjects: Activities of Daily Living; Adaptation, Psychological; Adult; Analysis of Variance; Biological and medical sciences; Brain Injuries - diagnosis; Brain Injuries - psychology; Brain Injuries - rehabilitation; Case-Control Studies; Chi-Square Distribution; Cognition Disorders - etiology; Cognition Disorders - psychology; Cognition Disorders - rehabilitation; Depression - etiology; Disability Evaluation; Employment; Evaluation Studies as Topic; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Glasgow Coma Scale; Humans; Injuries of the nervous system and the skull. Diseases due to physical agents; Male; Medical sciences; Neuropsychological Tests; Outcome Assessment (Health Care) - standards; Prognosis; Reproducibility of Results; Social Adjustment; Traumas. Diseases due to physical agents; Performance evaluation; Human; Nervous system diseases; Late; Prognosis; Craniocerebral; Diseases of the osteoarticular system; Neuropsychological test; Trauma; Cerebral disorder; Central nervous system disease; Skull disease; Evolution
• ISSN: 0269-9052; 1362-301X
• DOI: 10.1080/026990598122322

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) subjects at Glasgow Outcome Scale levels 3 (severe disability), 4 (moderate disability), 5 (good recovery), and an other injury control group (OIC) were compared in terms of neuropsychological, psychosocial, and vocational functioning 6 months after injury. Subjects were a sample of 100 patients with a moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) and a matched sample of 30 other injury control subjects (OIC) enrolled in the UCLA Brain Injury Research Center study of TBI outcome. Overall, the results showed a systematic decrease in mean neuropsychological test performance as a function of increasing GOS severity, as well as an increased prevalence of symptoms of depression and lower ratings on measures assessing employability and capacity for self care. TBI patients in the 'severe' and 'moderate disability' groups were distinctly inferior to the 'good recovery' and 'OIC' groups, who were quite similar to each other in terms of cognitive, psychosocial, and vocational outcomes. The results demonstrate overall support for the predictive and concurrent validity of the GOS 6 months post injury. Despite these results, which strengthen the utility and appeal of the GOS for multicentre studies, concerns still remain regarding GOS category 4 (moderate disability), which was shown to lack sufficient discriminability in this study.