Rates of symptom reporting following traumatic brain injury

This study examines rates of reporting of new or worse post-traumatic symptoms for patients with a broad range of injury severity at 1 month and 1 year after traumatic brain injury (TB!), as compared with those whose injury spared the head, and assesses variables related to symptom reporting at 1 year post-injury. Seven hundred thirty two TBI subjects and 120 general trauma comparison (TC) subjects provided new or worse symptom information at 1 month and/or 1 year post-injury. Symptom reporting at I year post-injury was compared in subgroups based on basic demographics, preexisting conditions, and severity of brain injury. The TBI group reported significantly more symptoms at 1 month and I year after injury than TCs (each p < .001). Although symptom endorsement declined from I month to I year, 53% of people with TBI and 24% of TC continued to report 3 or more symptoms at 1 year post-injury. Symptom reporting in the TBI group was significantly related to age, gender, preinjury alcohol abuse, pre-injury psychiatric history, and severity of TBI. Symptom reporting is common following a traumatic injury and continues to be experienced by a substantial number of TBI subjects of all severity levels at 1 year post-injury. (JINS, 2010, 16, 401-411.)