How long does it really take to recover from concussion?

Date:
February 16, 2022
Source:
American Academy of Neurology
Summary:
A new study suggests that people with mild traumatic brain
injuries may be more likely to have cognitive impairment,
cognitive decline or both one year later, compared to people
who were not injured. People with poor cognitive outcomes were
also more likely to have other symptoms like anxiety and lower
satisfaction with life.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A new study suggests that people with mild traumatic brain injuries may
be more likely to have cognitive impairment, cognitive decline or both
one year later, compared to people who were not injured. The research
is published in the February 16, 2022, online issue of Neurology(R),
the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. People with
poor cognitive outcomes were also more likely to have other symptoms
like anxiety and lower satisfaction with life.


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"Our results suggest that clinically meaningful poor cognitive outcomes,
which we defined as cognitive impairment, cognitive decline or both,
one year after a concussion may be more common than previously thought,"
said study author Raquel Gardner, MD, of the University of California
San Francisco. "They also highlight the need to better understand the mechanisms underlying poor cognitive outcome, even after relatively mild
brain injuries, to improve therapy for recovery." The study looked at
656 people who had been admitted to trauma center emergency rooms with concussions and 156 healthy people without head injuries. Their average
age was 40. Participants were given up to three neurological evaluations
after their injury, at two weeks, six months and one year. Each of those evaluations provided five scores from three tests of recall, language
skills and other cognitive domains.

Poor cognitive outcome was defined as satisfying the criteria for
cognitive impairment, cognitive decline or both. Cognitive impairment
was defined as lower-than-expected performance on at least two cognitive
tests such as one memory test and one processing speed test. Cognitive
decline was defined as clinically meaningful decline on at least two
cognitive tests.

Researchers found that 86 out of 656 people with mild brain injuries,
or 14%, had poor cognitive outcomes one year later. Of those, 10% had
cognitive impairment only, 2% had cognitive decline only and 2% had
both. That's compared to eight out of 156 people without concussions,
or 5%, who had poor cognitive outcomes one year later. Of those healthy
people, 3% had cognitive impairment, none had cognitive decline only,
and 1% had both.

Researchers also found that people who had depression before their injury,
had no health insurance, or had a high school education or less were
more likely to have a poor cognitive outcome than those who were not
depressed before the injury, or had insurance or had more than a high
school education.

Researchers found that people who had good cognitive outcomes were
more likely to have higher life satisfaction one year after their
concussion. The life satisfaction test given to participants ranges
in score from five to 35, with lower scores indicating lower life
satisfaction. The people with good cognitive outcomes scored an average
of 26 on the test, compared to people with poor cognitive outcomes,
who scored an average of 21.

The study does not prove that people with concussions will have worse
cognitive outcomes one year later, but it shows an association.

"Previous studies of people with moderate to severe brain injuries show
that early, intensive rehabilitation can improve people's cognitive
outcomes over time. More research is needed to find out the role of
cognitive rehabilitation on people with more mild brain injuries who are
also at risk for poor cognitive outcomes, and how to predict who falls
into this risk category," Gardner said.

A limitation of the study is that people were enrolled at the time of
their concussion and their cognitive health before injury was not known.

The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the Department
of Defense.

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========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Andrea Lauren Christman Schneider, J. Russell Huie, W. John
Boscardin,
Lindsay Nelson, Jason K. Barber, Kristine Yaffe, Ramon
Diaz-Arrastia, Adam R. Ferguson, Joel Kramer, Sonia Jain, Nancy
Temkin, Esther Yuh, Geoffrey T. Manley, Raquel C. Gardner, TRACK-TBI
Investigators. Cognitive Outcome 1 Year After Mild Traumatic Brain
Injury: Results From the TRACK- TBI Study. Neurology, 2022 DOI:
10.1212/WNL.0000000000200041 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220216162300.htm

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