To assess the impact of injury severity on disease specific quality of life after Traumatic Brain Injury

The study was carried out in Department of Neurosurgery, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India after obtaining ethical clearance from Institute Ethics Committee. Sixty consecutive patients aged 18 and above with moderate to severe TBI (GCS score of 3-12 at admission) attending the Outpatient Department of Neurosurgery Specialty were screened. Out of 60 participants, 40 had moderate TBI (GCS 9-12) and 20 patients had severe TBI (GCS 3-8). The participants having any pre-existing major psychiatric disorders, intellectual disability, current or past history of substance abuse, degenerative and/or progressive condition, terminal illness and past history of TBI were excluded. Written informed consent was obtained from each participant. Socio-demographic details and information about clinical status at the time of admission and discharge were obtained from participant and hospital records. Disease specific quality of life was measured by QOLIBRI (Quality of life after brain injury). It is a self-reported measure comprising of 37 items. The first part assesses the subjects’ satisfaction with his HRQL in 4 domains (cognition, self, daily life and autonomy, and social relationships). The second part measures how much the subject is bothered after TBI in 2 domains (emotions and physical problems). The other tools administered were Glasgow Outcome Scale and Barthel’s Index of Activities of Daily Living (functional status); Mini Mental State Examination (cognitive status): Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (anxiety and depression).

The data was analyzed using statistical package for social sciences software version 21 (SPSS). There were no significant differences between both groups with regard to age, gender, education status, marital status, family type and place of residence. Both groups were similar with regard to mode of injury and duration of injury. With regard to treatment during admission both group had significant differences. Among severe TBI group 90% underwent surgical intervention whereas among moderate TBI group only 45% underwent surgical intervention. Significant difference was present in GCS score at discharge between both the groups. After 6 months of injury both group had no significant difference with regard to functional status, global cognitive functioning, anxiety and depression. With regard to quality of life significant difference emerged between the groups on QOLIBRI total score. On various subscales of QOLIBRI - significant differences were noted only in the domains of social relationship and emotions. There were no differences between them on domains of cognition, self, daily life and physical problems.

After 6 months of TBI, the participants in both groups (Moderate TBI and severe TBI) had similar functioning with regard to daily activities and psychological functioning. With regard to quality of life both groups emerged to be significantly different on overall quality of life and domains of social relationship and emotions.