Perceived Injustice After Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.
Kaisa Mäki, Taina Nybo, Marja Hietanen and 4 others
PMID 34145158WHAT IT FOUND
Perceived injustice levels were low and similar in mild brain injury and ankle fracture groups.
However, feeling that the injury was unfair or permanent correlated strongly with more postconcussion, depressive, and stress symptoms in the brain injury group.
Key findings
01Patients with mild traumatic brain injury did not report significantly higher overall perceived injustice than patients with lower extremity fractures.
02In the mild traumatic brain injury group, higher perceived injustice scores were significantly correlated with more severe postconcussion, depressive, and posttraumatic stress symptoms.
03Patients with complicated mild traumatic brain injury (visible lesions on MRI) reported higher perceived injustice than those with uncomplicated injuries.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study was correlational, so it cannot determine if perceived injustice causes worse symptoms or if worse symptoms lead to feelings of injustice. The orthopedic control group had a significantly longer time since injury at assessment (median 112 days) compared to the mTBI group (median 88 days). Participants were recruited from a hospital outpatient clinic, which may skew the sample toward those with more complaints, though the authors argue the low symptom reporting suggests this bias was minimal. The number of patients still on sick leave at the time of assessment was very small (6 in the mTBI group), limiting the reliability of findings related to return-to-work.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that high perceived injustice is a defining feature of mild traumatic brain injury. The study found that injustice levels were low and not significantly different from patients with ankle fractures. The key finding is the correlation with symptom severity, not that mTBI patients are uniquely more likely to feel injustice than other injured patients.