Use of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) in patients with traumatic brain injury.
BACKGROUND
Many tools exist for assessing the functioning of a patient with traumatic brain injury. Possible benefits of the ICF in TBI rehabilitation are currently under discussion.


OBJECTIVE
The study explored to what extend the ICF is useful to organize existing clinical information and to retrospectively evaluate the effect of interventions in patients with TBI.


METHODS
A retrospective patient record study was conducted. Medical records of 100 patients admitted to the Slovenian University Rehabilitation Institute from 2007-2009 were linked to the ICF.


RESULTS
The majority of the functional problems at the level of body functions corresponded to mental and movement-related functions. Within the list of activities and participation, the patients experienced more difficulties in tasks that require intellectual effort, communicational ability, mobility and self-care. The ICF detected substantial improvement after rehabilitation regarding body functions and activities related to mobility and self-care and little improvement regarding mental functions and related activities. Some important environmental factors were also identified.


CONCLUSIONS
The translation of the information about functioning into the ICF format provided a well-structured functional profile of the selected group of patients in a language-independent format. ICF also clearly outlined the environmental factors important for the recovery and functioning.
European project MURINET, University Rehabilitation Institute, Republic of Slovenia, Ljubljana, Slovenia. pavel.ptyushkin@yandex.ru
Pavel
P
Ptyushkin
Gaj
G
Vidmar
Helena
H
Burger
Crt
C
Marincek
D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000145:classification*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000145:classification* / Q000503:physiopathology; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D038801:International Classification of Diseases / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008498:Medical Record Linkage / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017524:Slovenia; D055815:Young Adult