Neurobehavioural symptoms one year after a head injury.
BACKGROUND
Neurobehavioural symptoms are common immediately after a minor head injury but have not been studied one year after the injury.


OBJECTIVE
To estimate the rate and pattern of neurobehavioural symptoms one year after a head injury of varying severity.


METHODS
Adults who had been hospitalised after a head injury (n = 196, 164 of whom had a face-to-face interview) and showed indirect evidence of brain assault were assessed for the presence of neurobehavioural symptoms with the help of a behaviour rating scale.


RESULTS
About 40% had three or more symptoms. Individual symptoms varied among 3% (social disinhibition), 15% (lack of initiative) and 35% (irritability) of the cohort. Premorbid factors such as lower social class and lower educational achievement, head-injury-related factors such a low Glasgow coma score, and outcome-related factors such as the presence of a disability according to the Edinburgh Rehabilitation Status Scale and psychiatric caseness according to the Clinical Interview Schedule--Revised, significantly influenced the rate and the pattern of behavioural symptoms. The pattern of symptoms varied between age groups and according to the severity of the head injury.


CONCLUSIONS
A significant proportion of patients with varying degrees of severity of head injury showed behavioural symptoms after one year of head injury.
Deb
S
S
Division of Psychological Medicine, University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff. Deb@Cardiff.ac.uk
Lyons
I
I
Koutzoukis
C
C
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015331:Cohort Studies; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D012307:Risk Factors