Does a regular Wessex Head Injury Matrix assessment identify early signs of infections in people with Prolonged Disorders of Consciousness?
Samira Kashinath Dhamapurkar, Barbara A Wilson, Anita Rose and 3 others
PMID 29894208WHAT IT FOUND
In people with prolonged disorders of consciousness, WHIM behavioural scores often dropped when infection was present.
It happened in 17 of 21 retrospective and 15 of 22 prospective patients, but vegetative-state scores may not change.
Key findings
01WHIM total score decreased with infection in 17 of 21 retrospective patients.
02WHIM total score decreased with infection in 15 of 22 prospective patients.
03Patients in a minimally conscious state showed a bigger proportion of WHIM change than patients in a vegetative state.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study included only 21 retrospective and 22 prospective patients. Patients in a vegetative state may have WHIM scores that are too low to show meaningful change, because four retrospective infection cases and six prospective patients showed no score change. The study was observational, so it reports an association between WHIM score drops and infection, not proof that a drop caused infection. All patients were in a specialist PDOC rehabilitation setting with devices, usual neurorehabilitation, medication and nursing care, so the findings may not apply to other settings.
Declared interests
The authors report no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat a lower WHIM score as proof of infection. Four of the 21 retrospective infection cases showed no score change, and six prospective patients showed no change.