Examining age-related differences in functional domain impairment following traumatic brain injury.
Chieh Cheng, Nai-Ching Chi, Ellita Williams and 1 others
PMID 30129175WHAT IT FOUND
Older adults after mild-moderate traumatic brain injury had worse mobility, travel, home maintenance and overall function for a year.
Better pre-injury physical health was linked to better function; better pre-injury mental health was sometimes linked to worse function in older adults.
Key findings
01Older adults had worse mobility, travel, home maintenance and overall function than younger adults, and also showed greater declines in personal care and overall function over time.
02Better pre-injury physical health was associated with better home maintenance and overall function across all time points.
03In older adults, better pre-injury mental health was associated with worse travel, home maintenance and overall function at 12 months.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for RNs
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 sample was small, with 19 younger adults and 15 older adults, so the findings are imprecise. All participants were Caucasians, so the results may not apply to other racial or ethnic groups. The study did not record post-injury care, including physical therapy, so differences may be influenced by treatment received. The paper does not report how many participants completed each follow-up visit or how missing data were handled. This was a secondary analysis, not a study designed to test whether an intervention improves function.
Declared interests
The authors reported no conflicts of interest, and the paper does not state who funded the work.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that improving pre-injury mental health will improve recovery in older adults after traumatic brain injury. In this paper, better pre-injury mental health was associated with worse travel, home maintenance and overall function at 12 months.