title: Early outcome in patients with traumatic brain injury, pre-injury alcohol abuse and intoxication at time of injury.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the relationship between pre-injury alcohol abuse and intoxication at time of injury on duration of post-traumatic amnesia (PTA) as well as on early functional and neurobehavioural outcomes in persons with traumatic brain injury (TBI) hospitalized in an acute care setting.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty persons with mild, moderate and severe TBI admitted to the intensive care unit were part of this retrospective study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Duration of PTA, length of stay (LOS), Extended Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS-E) score, the FIM dagger score as well as early neuropsychological outcome measured by the Neurobehavioural Rating Scale Revised (NBRS-R).
  
  
  RESULTS
  2-factor ANOVAs and chi-squares tests showed that PTA and LOS were significantly longer in the group of patients with pre-injury alcohol abuse, regardless of whether they were intoxicated or not at the time of injury. Moreover, the FIM total and cognitive scores were significantly higher for the group intoxicated on admission compared to the sober group. However, GOS-E scores and results on the NBRS-R were similar.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite a longer PTA and LOS, global and neurobehavioural outcomes at discharge from acute care were not different for those with pre-injury alcohol abuse.
authors.affiliation: McGill University Health Centre-Montreal General Hospital, Canada. elaine.deguise@muhc.mcgill.ca
authors.forename: Elaine
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: De Guise
authors.forename: Joanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Leblanc
authors.forename: Jehane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dagher
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lamoureux
authors.forename: Ahmed Al
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Jishi
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Maleki
authors.forename: Judith
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Marcoux
authors.forename: Mitra
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Feyz
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology; D000647:Amnesia / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055815:Young Adult