Gender and traumatic brain injury: do the sexes fare differently?
OBJECTIVE
To examine the relationship between gender and cognitive recovery 1 year following traumatic brain injury (TBI).


METHODS
Patients with blunt TBI were identified from the TBI Model Systems of Care National Database, multi-centre cohort study. The included patients (n = 325) were 16-45 years at injury, admitted to an acute care facility within 24 hours, received inpatient rehabilitation, had documented admission Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scores, completed neuropsychological follow-up 1 year post-injury and did not report pre-morbid learning problems. Multivariate analyses of variance examined the unadjusted association between gender and six cognitive domains examining attention/working memory, verbal memory, language, visual analytic skills, problem-solving and motor functioning. Analyses of covariance models were constructed to determine if confounding factors biased the observed associations.


RESULTS
Females performed significantly better than males on tests of attention/working memory and language. Males outperformed females in visual analytic skills. Gender remained significantly associated with performance in these areas when controlling for confounding variables.


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest a better cognitive recovery of females than males following TBI. However, future studies need to include non-TBI patients to control for possible pre-injury gender-related differences, as well as to conduct extended follow-ups to determine the stability of the observed differences.
Ratcliff
Jonathan J
JJ
Department of Emergency Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Greenspan
Arlene I
AI
Goldstein
Felicia C
FC
Stringer
Anthony Y
AY
Bushnik
Tamara
T
Hammond
Flora M
FM
Novack
Thomas A
TA
Whyte
John
J
Wright
David W
DW
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D016489:Head Injuries, Closed / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D020127:Recovery of Function / Q000502:physiology*; D012737:Sex Factors