title: Comorbid disease in persons with traumatic brain injury: descriptive findings using the modified cumulative illness rating scale.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To provide descriptive findings regarding the overall health status and prevalence of medical comorbidities experienced by traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Inception cohort design with cross-sectional follow-up at 1 to 15 years.
  
  
  METHODS
  Rehabilitation hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  Adults (N=258) with moderate to severe TBI.
  
  
  METHODS
  Not applicable.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Modified Cumulative Illness Rating Scale is a 14-item rating scale used to indicate health status by rating impairment across 14 different domains.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The TBI sample had lower rates of comorbidities compared with other rehabilitation populations, including stroke and orthopedic samples. The most commonly encountered medical conditions within our sample were eyes, ears, nose, and throat problems, psychiatric or behavioral disturbances, hypertension, and musculoskeletal injury at mild to moderate severity. Prevalence of conditions did not differ by sex, race, or cause of TBI.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The current TBI sample was relatively healthy with few medical comorbidities. Further, the Modified Cumulative Illness Rating Scale may better be used as a standardized checklist to assess for the presence of co-occurring conditions, given the near absence of conditions in the higher range of severity.
authors: Wayne State University, Dept of Psychology, 5057 Woodward Ave, 7th Fl, Detroit, MI 48202, USA. du0878@wayne.edu
authors: Erin M
authors: EM
authors: Holcomb
authors: Scott R
authors: SR
authors: Millis
authors: Robin A
authors: RA
authors: Hanks
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012047:Rehabilitation Centers; D013997:Time Factors; D015599:Trauma Severity Indices; D055815:Young Adult