Article

OBJECTIVE: To examine the comparative efficacy of 3 common measures of traumatic
brain injury (TBI) severity for predicting inpatient outcomes upon hospital
discharge. SETTING: Acute brain injury rehabilitation unit at level 1 trauma
center. PARTICIPANTS: 100 patients with TBI. DESIGN: Retrospective analysis of
injury severity, demographic, and outcome data. MAIN MEASURES: Glasgow Coma Scale
(GCS) at admission, time to follow commands (TTC), duration of posttraumatic
amnesia (PTA), and Functional Independence Measure at hospital discharge.
RESULTS: A hierarchal multiple regression revealed that duration of PTA was a
significant and powerful unique predictor of Functional Independence Measure
scores at discharge (beta = -0.46, P = .001), while TTC (beta = 0.26, P = .056)
and GCS (beta = 0.16, P = .143) were not. These effects were present even after
controlling for age, gender, educational level, racial/ethnic minority status,
cause of injury, history of substance abuse, and neurosurgical intervention.
CONCLUSION: Although clinicians often use GCS scores and TTC when assessing acute
TBI severity and during treatment formulation, this study provides evidence that
duration of PTA may be a more meaningful predictor of patients' functional levels
at discharge.

Langue : ANGLAIS