Group-Based Trajectory Analysis of Emotional Symptoms Among Survivors After Severe Traumatic Brain Injury.
Dianxu Ren, Jun Fan, Ava M Puccio and 3 others
PMID 28195956WHAT IT FOUND
After severe TBI, about 70% of 129 survivors had low depression that rose over 24 months, while 30% stayed high.
Anxiety also split into low-stable and high-stable groups, and high depression or anxiety clustered with low life satisfaction.
Key findings
01Of 129 severe TBI survivors followed over 24 months, about 70% had low depressive symptoms that increased over time and about 30% had high depressive symptoms that remained high.
02Anxiety also divided into about 69% with low stable anxiety and 31% with high stable anxiety over 24 months.
03Survivors with high depressive symptoms were also likely to be in the high anxiety and low life satisfaction groups, and greater injury severity was associated with the high-stable depression group.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The sample was 129 adults, young, mostly white, and mostly less than a high school diploma, so the findings may not apply to older, more diverse or more educated survivors. Twenty-seven subjects were excluded for missing more than two measurements, and 32% of education data and 17% of marital status data were missing. Only four time points were collected over 24 months, so symptom patterns beyond 24 months are unknown. The study used self-report measures and included only survivors able to complete them, so it may miss survivors who could not complete self-report measures. The study describes symptom trajectories and associations, not the effect of any treatment.
Declared interests
No conflict-of-interest statement is included in the supplied text. The publication types list NIH extramural research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the high-stable depression and anxiety groups as proof that early psychological treatment improves them. The paper identifies symptom patterns and suggests possible targeting. It does not report a tested treatment.