The behavioral sequelae of head injury.
Twenty patients with mild and, in a few cases, moderately severe head injuries were examined 3 days and 1 month postinjury. The results indicate that these patients, as compared to appropriate controls, show significant neuropsychological difficulties at 3 days, but not at 1 month postinjury. Postconcussional symptoms are endorsed, on the other hand, at both 3 days and 1 month. Absence of significant neuropsychological findings at 1 month is contrary to some of the previous reports. A number of reasons for this discrepancy were discussed. Some of these included: (a) inappropriate controls used in previous research; (2) failure to screen for pre-existing conditions in prior studies, therefore confounding the effects of the injury with pre-injury factors; (3) possible practice effects in our research; and (4) differences in the neuropsychological measures used across different studies.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000647:Amnesia / Q000209:etiology; D001288:Attention; D001519:Behavior; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000523:psychology*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory; D008875:Middle Aged; D009949:Orientation; D013997:Time Factors