Characteristics and associated factors of early cognitive dysfunction following acute traumatic brain injury

Abstract

Objective To analyze the characteristics and associated factors of early cognitive dysfunction following acute traumatic brain injury (TBI) and provide the evidence for early diagnosis and treatment of cognitive dysfunction. Methods A prospective study was performed on 328 patients with mild to moderate TBI from Shanghai Pudong New Area People's Hospital since June 2012 to June 2014, using the Mini-mental state examination (MMSE) and Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA) to assess their cognitive function. Differential analysis of the mechanism of injury, age, gender, years of education, and CT manifestation type was performed in patients with and without cognitive dysfunction. Logistic regression analysis was further used to analyze the risk factors for cognitive dysfunction. Results In enrolled 328 patients, 56 patients (17.1%) were identified with cognitive dysfunction in MMSE score, while 207 patients (63.1%) in MoCA score. Cognitive dysfunction mainly manifested as visual-spatial and executive function, attention and calculation ability, language, abstract, and delayed memory. There were significant differences in years of education and CT manifestations (subarachnoid hemorrhage, contusion, intracranial hematoma, etc) between patients with and without cognitive dysfunction (P<0.01). Logistic regression analysis showed years of education, brain contusion, and intracranial hematoma were the major factor for cognitive dysfunction following TBI (P<0.01). Conclusion Cognitive dysfunction is largely affected by years of education, brain contusion and intracranial hematoma after TBI. Key words: Craniocerebral trauma; Cognition disorders; Influence factors