• Arch Phys Med Rehabil · Jul 2008

    Spinal cord injury and co-occurring traumatic brain injury: assessment and incidence.

    • Stephen Macciocchi, Ronald T Seel, Nicole Thompson, Rashida Byams, and Brock Bowman.
    • Shepherd Center, Atlanta, GA 30309, USA. stephen_macciocchi@shepherd.org
    • Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2008 Jul 1;89(7):1350-7.

    ObjectivesTo examine prospectively the incidence and severity of co-occurring traumatic brain injury (TBI) in persons with traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) and to describe a TBI assessment process for SCI rehabilitation professionals.DesignA prospective, cohort design to collect and analyze clinical variables relevant for diagnosing co-occurring TBI.SettingAn urban, single-center National Institute of Disability and Rehabilitation Research Model Spinal Cord Injury System in the Southeastern United States.ParticipantsPeople (N=198) who met inclusion criteria and provided consent within an 18-month recruitment window.InterventionsNot applicable.Main Outcome MeasureFIM cognitive scale.ResultsBased on participants' presence and duration of posttraumatic amnesia, initial Glasgow Coma Scale total score, and presence of cerebral lesion documented by neuroimaging, 60% of our traumatic SCI sample also sustained a TBI (n=118). Most co-occurring TBIs were mild (34%). Co-occurring mild complicated (10%), moderate (6%), and severe TBI (10%) were less common but still occurred in a significant percentage (26%) of persons with traumatic SCI. Persons with traumatic SCI who were injured in motor vehicle collisions and falls were more likely to sustain a co-occurring TBI. Cervical level traumatic SCI was associated with greater rates of TBI but not more severe injuries. Tree analyses established a practical algorithm for classifying TBI severity associated with traumatic SCI. Analysis of variance established criterion validity for the algorithm's TBI severity classifications.ConclusionsFindings from our prospective study provide strong support that TBI is a common co-occurring injury with traumatic SCI. Incomplete acute care medical record documentation of TBI in the traumatic SCI population remains a considerable issue, and there is a significant need to educate emergency department and acute care personnel on the TBI clinical data needs of acute rehabilitation providers. A systematic algorithm for reviewing acute care medical records can yield valid estimates of TBI severity in the traumatic SCI population.

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