LOS ANGELES—Most older adults recover well from traumatic brain injury (TBI), according to research presented at the 70th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology. Compared with younger patients, older adults endorse less independence after injury, but are less likely to report TBI-related neurobehavioral symptoms. A greater burden of preinjury disability among the elderly may explain these apparently conflicting results, according to the researchers.
Geriatric TBI is “a silent and growing epidemic,” said Raquel Gardner, MD, Assistant Professor of Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco. Older adults have the highest incidence of TBI-related emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and deaths, according to 2013 data from the CDC. Most research has indicated that this population has worse outcomes of TBI than younger populations do. Few studies, however, have examined age-related differences in neurobehavioral outcomes of TBI.
Injury Was More Severe Among Older Patients
To address this gap in the literature, Dr. Gardner and colleagues examined data from the TRACK-TBI pilot study. Eligible patients presented to participating trauma centers within 24 hours of sustaining a TBI that was severe enough to warrant head CT. The TRACK-TBI study excluded participants with a diagnosis of dementia or any pre-existing condition that would impair their ability to complete outcome assessments. Patients’ neurobehavioral outcomes were evaluated prospectively with measures such as the Glasgow Outcome Scale Extended (GOSE), Craig Handicap Assessment and Reporting Technique-Short Form (CHART-SF), Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI-18), Rivermead Post-Concussion Questionnaire (RPQ), Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-Civilian (PCL-C), and the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS).
Raquel Gardner, MD
Dr. Gardner and colleagues categorized 586 patients as young (ie, younger than 40), middle-aged (ie, ages 40 to 59), or older (ie, age 60 or older). They compared baseline features and six-month neurobehavioral outcomes between the three groups using χ2, analysis of variance, and regression modeling.
Patients’ age ranged from 16 to 94. At baseline, the prevalence of female sex and white race increased with increasing age. Older adults were less likely to report a prior history of TBI than the other two age groups. TBI resulted from a fall for most older patients. At presentation, Glasgow Coma Scale scores did not differ significantly between the three patient groups, and older adults were less likely to report having experienced loss of consciousness or posttraumatic amnesia than the other groups.