Long-term effects of mild traumatic brain injury on cognitive performance

Abstract

Although a proportion of individuals report chronic cognitive difficulties after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), results from behavioral testing have been inconsistent. In fact, the variability inherent to the mTBI population may be masking subtle cognitive deficits. We hypothesized that this variability could be reduced by accounting for post-concussion syndrome (PCS) in the sample. Thirty-six participants with mTBI (>1 year post-injury) and 36 non-head injured controls performed information processing speed (Paced Visual Serial Addition Task, PVSAT) and working memory (n-Back) tasks. Both groups were split by PCS diagnosis (4 groups, all n = 18), with categorization of controls based on symptom report. Participants with mTBI and persistent PCS had significantly greater error rates on both the n-Back and PVSAT, at every difficulty level except 0-Back (used as a test of performance validity). There was no difference between any of the other groups. Therefore, a cognitive deficit can be observed in mTBI participants, even 1 year after injury. Correlations between cognitive performance and symptoms were only observed for mTBI participants, with worse performance correlating with lower sleep quality, in addition to a medium effect size association (falling short of statistical significance) with higher PCS symptoms, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and anxiety. These results suggest that the reduction in cognitive performance is not due to greater symptom report itself, but is associated to some extent with the initial injury. Furthermore, the results validate the utility of our participant grouping, and demonstrate its potential to reduce the variability observed in previous studies.

Whiplash Injury and Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: Differential Effects on Cognitive Functioning?

“…The outcome of the study is compatible with findings from other studies. However, in contrast to previous studies [1,13,16,17,19,[20][21][22][23], the MTBI patients showed no significantly reduced speed of information processing as was evaluated with the PASAT. An overview of the results of this study can be seen in Table 1.…”

“…In MTBI patients, mild impairments in speed of information processing, (sustained, divided, focused and/or alternating) attention and (auditory-verbal and/or visuospatial) memory have been found [1,13,16,17,19,[20][21][22][23]. With regard to memory, most patients displayed deficits concerning the storage of new information into memory and/ or the reproduction of recently learned information from memory.…”

“…With regard to cognitive functioning, WI and MTBI patients often complain of poor attention and memory [7]. Several studies have looked for objective findings concerning cognitive dysfunctions after WI [1,2,[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] and MTBI [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] and have found the presence of only mild cognitive deficits, if any, in both patient groups, mainly in the domain of attention, information processing and memory.…”

Acute or Delayed Treatment with Anatabine Improves Spatial Memory and Reduces Pathological Sequelae at Late Time-Points after Repetitive Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

“…1 Although these injuries are clinically classified as mild, exposure to repetitive injury is associated with chronic neurodegeneration and deficits which affect the long term recovery and outcome of the patient. 2 Although studies have shown that mild TBI can result in reduced productivity and impacts the quality of life of the patient, the pathophysiology driving these effects is unclear, hence strategies for therapeutic intervention have been slow to advance. 3 Traumatic brain injury is a physical injury to the central nervous system that can result in the initiation of downstream secondary injury mechanisms in the hours, days, and weeks following injury.…”

Auditory Processing Deficits Following Sport-Related or Motor Vehicle Accident Injuries

“…TBI, even mild TBI, is known to cause symptoms that last anywhere *Corresponding author: Samuel R Atcherson, Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology, University of Arkansas at Little Rock/University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, 2801 S, University Avenue, Little Rock, AR, USA, Tel: 501-569-3155; Fax: 501-569-3157; E-mail: sratcherson@ualr.edu from seconds to years post-injury [11,12]. Closed head injuries caused by these events can forcefully accelerate the brain within the cranium causing mild contusions, headache, sleep difficulties, and irritability (CDC, 2010).…”