Longitudinal outcomes of patients with traumatic brain injury: A preliminary study

Primary objective: To examine the long-term global clinical outcomes of TBI patients from 1 week to 10 years post-injury. Research design: A retrospective study was conducted at a level I trauma centre. Methods and procedures: A total of 327 TBI patients were recruited retrospectively in this longitudinal study and the score of Glasgow Outcome Scale Extended (GOSE) was then documented as an indicator of the clinical outcomes. Main outcomes and results: The results presented that less than one-in-three patients recovered well within 2 weeks after trauma. Around 40% of patients were evaluated as favourable outcomes within 6 months post-injury. Less than 30% of TBI patients could gain favourable outcomes at 3 years post-injury and over half of patients still could not recover well at 6 years. Five patients' outcomes were continuously followed until 10 years and the results indicated that they started to have good outcomes after 3 years post-injury. Conclusions: This study might be the first one to longitudinally evaluate the outcomes of patients from 1 week to 10 years post-injury and revealed that patients still may have difficulties in social interactions and family relationships until 6 years post-injury, even though they could live and work independently. Hence, professionals should pay attention to the underlying factors causing their difficulties within the long-term recovery process.