Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-vvkck Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T22:24:17.468Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Long-term outcome of serious traumatic brain injury

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2008

R. Ll. Wood*
Affiliation:
University of Wales Swansea & Welsh Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Human Sciences, Swansea, Wales, UK
*
Correspondence to: Roger Ll. Wood, Department of Psychology, Singleton Park Campus, Swansea, Wales SA2 8PP, UK. E-mail: r.l.wood@swansea.ac.uk; Tel: +44 1792 295778; Fax: +44 1792 295009
Get access

Summary

Follow-up studies on individuals who suffer severe head injury give a picture of poor cognitive and psychosocial outcome. However, recent evidence suggests that with the passage of time, many individuals make adjustments that compensate for early disability, leading to a reduction in social handicap with a corresponding improvement in life quality and personal satisfaction. This article will attempt to briefly review the main sources of evidence contributing to long-term outcome following serious head trauma.

Type
Original Article
Copyright
Copyright © European Society of Anaesthesiology 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Thornhill, S, Teasdale, GM, Murray, GD et al. . Disability in young people and adults one year after head injury: prospective cohort study. BMJ 2000; 320: 16311635.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2. Teasdale GM, Murray GD, McMillan TM, et al. Report to the Chief Scientist Office. CZH, 2004/4/48.Google Scholar
3.Jacobs, HE. Adult community integration. In: Bach-y-Rita, P, ed. Traumatic Brain Injury. New York: Demos Publications, 1989.Google Scholar
4.Brooks, DN, Campsie, L, Symington, C et al. . The five-year outcome of severe blunt head injury: a relative’s view. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1986; 49: 764770.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
5.Wood, RL, Yurdakul, LK. Change in relationship status following traumatic brain injury. Brain Inj 1997; 11: 491502.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6.Oddy, M, Coughlan, T, Tyerman, A et al. . Social adjustment after closed head injury: a further follow-up seven years after injury. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1985; 48: 564568.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
7.Willer, BS, Allen, KM, Liss, M et al. . Problems and coping strategies of individuals with traumatic brain injury and their spouses. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 1991; 72: 460464.Google ScholarPubMed
8.Sbordone, RJ, Liter, JC, Petter-Jennings, P. Recovery of function following severe traumatic brain injury: a retrospective 10-year follow-up. Brain Inj 1995; 9: 285299.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
9.Hoofien, D, Gilboa, A, Vakil, E et al. . Traumatic brain injury (tbi) 10–20 years later: a comprehensive outcome study of psychiatric symptomology, cognitive abilities and psychosocial functioning. Brain Inj 2001; 15: 189209.Google Scholar
10.Thomsen, IV. The patient with severe head injury and his family. Scand J Rehabil Med 1974; 6: 180183.Google ScholarPubMed
11.Thomsen, IV. Late outcome of very severe blunt head trauma: a 10–15 year second follow-up. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1984; 47: 260268.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
12.Thomsen, IV. Late psychosocial outcome in severe traumatic brain injury. Scand J Rehabil Med 1992; 26: 142152.Google ScholarPubMed
13.Wood, RLl, Rutterford, NA. Psychosocial adjustment 17 years after severe brain injury. J Neurology Neurosurg Psychiatry 2006; 77: 7173.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
14.Shallice, T, Burgess, PW. Deficits in strategy application after frontal lobe damage in man. Brain 1991; 114: 727741.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
15.Walsh, K. Understanding Brain Damage: a Primer of Neuropsychological Examination. London: Churchill Livingstone, 1985.Google Scholar
16.Wood, RLl, Rutterford, N. Relationships between measured cognitive ability and reported psychosocial activity after bilateral frontal lobe injury: an 18 year follow-up. Neuropsychol Rehabil 2004; 14: 329350.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17.Phillips, LH, Della Salla, S. Aging, intelligence, and anatomical segregation in the frontal lobes. Learn Individ Differ 1998; 10: 217243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18.West, RL. An application of prefrontal cortex function theory to cognitive aging. Psychol Bull 1996; 120: 272292.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
19.Raz, N, Gunning, FM, Head, D et al. . Selective aging of the human cerebral cortex observed in vivo: differential vulnerability of the prefrontal gray matter. Cereb Cortex 1997; 7: 268282.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
20.Craik, FIM, Morris, RG, Gick, M. Adult age differences in working memory. In: Vallar, G, Shallice, T, eds. Neuropsychological Impairments of Short-term Memory. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1990: 247267.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
21.Fleminger, S, Oliver, DL, Lovestone, S, Rabe-Hesketh, S, Giora, A. Head injury as a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease: the evidence 10 years on; a partial replication. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2003; 74: 857862.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
22.Mortimer, JA, Van Duijn, CM, Chandra, V et al. . Head trauma as a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease: a collaborative re-analysis of case–control studies. Int J Epidemiol 1991; 20: S28S35.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
23.Corkin, S, Rosen, TJ, Sullivan, EV et al. . Penetrating head injury in young adulthood exacerbates cognitive decline in later years. J Neurosci 1989; 9: 38763883.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
24.Walker, AE, Blumer, D. The fate and World War II veterans with posttraumatic seizures. Arch Neurol 1989; 46: 2326.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
25.Plassman, BL, Havlik, RJ, Steffens, DC et al. . Documented head injury in early adulthood and risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. Neurology 2000; 55: 11581166.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
26.Newcombe, F. Very late outcome after local wartime brain wounds. J Clin Exp Neuropsyc 1996; 18: 123.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
27.Millar, K, Nicoll, JAR, Thornhill, S et al. . Long term neuropsychological outcome after head injury: relation to APOE genotype. J Neurol, Neurosurg Psychiatry 2003; 74: 10471052.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
28.Wood, RLl, Rutterford, N. The long term impact of head trauma on intellectual abilities: a 16 year outcome study. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2006; 77: 11801184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
29.Lewin, W, Marshall, TF, Roberts, AH. Long-term outcome after severe head injury. BMJ 1979; 2: 15331538.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
30.Himanen, L, Portin, R, Isoniemi, H et al. . Longitudinal cognitive changes in traumatic brain injury: a 30-year follow-up study. Neurology 2006; 66: 187192.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
31.Verhaeghen, P, Salthouse, TA. Meta-analysis of age-cognition relations in adulthood: estimates of linear and non-linear age effects and structural models. Psychol Bull 1997; 22: 231249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
32.Jennett, B, Snoek, J, Bond, MR, Brooks, N. Disability after severe head injury: observations on the use of the Glasgow Outcome Scale. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1981; 44: 285293.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
33.Levin, HS, Gary, HE, Eisenberg, HM et al. . Neurobehavioural outcome 1-year after severe head injury – experience of the traumatic coma data-bank. J Neurosurg 1990; 73: 699709.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
34.Ruff, RM, Marshall, LF, Crouch, J et al. . Predictors of outcome following severe head trauma – follow-up data from the traumatic coma data-bank. Brain Inj 1993; 7: 101111.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
35.Groswasser, Z, Melamed, S, Agranov, E, Keren, O. Return to work as an integrative outcome measure following traumatic brain injury. Neuropsychol Rehabil 1999; 9: 493504.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
36.Brooks, DN, Campsie, L, Symington, C, Beattie, A, McKinlay, W. The five-year outcome of severe blunt head injury: a relative’s view. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1986; 49: 764770.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
37.Wood, RLl, Rutterford, NA. Demographic and cognitive predictors of long term psychosocial outcome following traumatic brain injury. Brain Inj 2006; 12: 350358.Google ScholarPubMed
38.Seibert, PS, Reedy, DP, Hash, J et al. . Brain injury: quality of life’s greatest challenge. Brain Inj 2002; 16: 837848.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
39.Dijkers, M. Measuring the long-term outcomes of traumatic brain injury: a review of the Community Integration Questionnaire. J Head Trauma Rehabil 1997; 12: 7491.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
40.Corrigan, JD, Smith-Knapp, K, Granger, CV. Outcomes in the first 5 years after traumatic brain injury. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 1998; 79: 298305.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
41.Deb, S, Lyons, I, Koutzoukis, C. Neurobehavioural symptoms one year after a head injury. Br J Psychiatry 1999; 174: 360365.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
42.Kirkness, CJ, Burr, RL, Mitchell, PH, Newell, DW. Is there a sex difference in the course following traumatic brain injury? Biol Res Nurs 2004; 5: 299310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
43.Levin, HS, Mattis, S, Ruff, RM et al. . Neurobehavioral outcome following minor head injury: a three-center study. J Neurosurg 1987; 66: 234243.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
44.Farace, E, Alves, WM. Do women fare worse: a meta-analysis of gender differences in traumatic brain injury outcome. J Neurosurg 2000; 93: 539545.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
45.Boake, C, Millis, SR, High, WMJ et al. . Using early neuropsychological testing to predict long-term productivity outcome from traumatic brain injury. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2001; 82: 761768.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
46.Sherer, M, Novack, TA, Sander, AM, Struchen, MA, Alderson, A, Thompson, RN. Neuropsychological assessment and employment outcome after traumatic brain injury: a review. Clin Neuropsychol 2002; 16: 157178.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
47.Klonoff, PS, Costa, LD, Snow, WG. Predictors and indicators of quality of life in patients with closed head injury. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 1986; 8: 469485.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
48.Ross, SR, Millis, SR, Rosenthal, M. Neuropsychological prediction of psychosocial outcome after traumatic brain injury. Appl Neuropsychol 1997; 4: 165170.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
49.Wagner, AK, Hammond, FN, Sasser, HC, Wiercisiewski, D. Return to productive activity after traumatic brain njury: relationship with measures of disability, handicap and community integration. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2002; 83: 107114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
50.Sherer, M, Sander, AM, Nick, TG, JrHigh, WM, Malec, JF, Rosenthal, M. Early cognitive status and productivity outcome after traumatic brain injury: findings from the TBI model systems. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2000; 83: 183192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
51.Prigatano, GP, Schachter, DL. Awareness of Deficit After Brain Injury: Clinical and theoretical Issues. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.Google Scholar
52.Doig, E, Fleming, J, Tooth, L. Patterns of community integration 2–5 years post discharge from brain injury rehabilitation. Brain Inj 2001; 15: 747762.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
53.Greenspan, AI, Wrigley, JM, Kresnow, M, Branche-Dorsey, CM, Fine, PR. Factors influencing failure to return to work due to traumatic brain injury. Brain Inj 1996; 10: 207218.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
54.Heinemann, AW, Whiteneck, GG. Relationships among impairment, disability, handicap, and life satisfaction in persons with traumatic brain injury. J Head Trauma Rehabil 1995; 10: 5463.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
55.Holosko, MJ, Huege, S. Perceived social adjustment and social support among a sample of head injured adults. Can J Rehabil 1989; 2: 145154.Google Scholar
56.Smith, JL, Magill-Evans, J, Britnell, S. Life satisfaction following traumatic brain injury. Can J Rehabil 1998; 11: 131140.Google Scholar
57.Fleminger, S, Oliver, DL, Williams, WH, Evans, J. The neuropsychiatry of depression after brain injury. Neuropsychol Rehabil 2003; 13: 6587.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
58.Kurtz, JE, Putnam, SH, Stone, C. Stability of normal personality traits after traumatic brain injury. J Head Trauma Rehabil 1998; 13: 114.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
59.Tate, RL. Impact of pre-injury factors on outcome after severe traumatic brain injury: does post-traumatic personality change represent an exacerbation of premorbid traits. Neuropsychol Rehabil 2003; 13: 4364.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
60.Malec, JF, Brown, AW, Moessner, AM. Personality factors and injury severity in the prediction of early and late traumatic brain injury outcomes. Rehabil Psychol 2004; 49: 5561.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
61.Tyerman, A, Humphrey, M. Changes in self-concept following severe head injury. Int J Rehabil Res 1984; 7: 1123.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
62.Schretlen, DJ. Do neurocognitive ability and personality traits account for different aspects of psychosocial outcome after traumatic brain injury? Rehabil Psychol 2000; 45: 260273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
63.Moore, AD, Stambrook, M. Coping strategies and locus of control following traumatic brain injury: relationship to long-term outcome. Brain Inj 1992; 6: 8994.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
64.Williams, WH, Williams, JM, Ghadiali, EJ. Autobiographical memory in traumatic brain injury: neuropsychological and mood predictors of recall. Neuropsychol Rehabil 1998; 8: 4360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
65.Finset, A, Andersson, S. Coping strategies in patients with acquired brain injury: relationships between coping, apathy, depression and lesion location. Brain Inj 2000; 14: 887905.Google ScholarPubMed
66.McMillan, TM, Williams, WH, Bryant, RA. Post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury: a review of causal mechanisms, assessment, and treatment. Neuropsychol Rehabil 2003; 13: 149164.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
67.Wood, RLl, Rutterford, NA. Evaluating a theory of stress and adjustment when predicting long term psychosocial outcome after brain injury. Brain inj 2006; 12: 19.Google Scholar
68.Kendall, E, Terry, DJ. Psychosocial adjustment following closed head injury: a model for understanding individual differences and predicting outcome. Neuropsychol Rehabil 1996; 6: 101132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar