Clinical and Affective Correlates of Cognitive Functioning in Complicated Mild and Moderate Traumatic Brain Injury Patients Belonging to Rural Areas.

Abstract

Abstarct Background/Objective Mild and moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a neglected field especially with reference to its association with cognitive, behavioral, and emotional sequelae. The present study aimed to investigate the association of affective symptoms and clinical factors with neurocognitive functioning in complicated mild and moderate TBI patients. Materials and Methods The sample comprised 39 complicated mild and moderate TBI patients with age range of 18 to 59 years. The study was conducted in the Department of Neurosurgery, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. The patients were assessed with the neurocognitive tests, Rivermead Post Concussion Symptom Questionnaire, and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Statistical Analysis Partial correlations and zero order correlations were used to test the relationships between variables. Results The injury-related factors, namely level of consciousness and Glasgow Coma Scale were found to be associated with divided attention and memory dysfunction ( p < 0.05), respectively. Anxiety was found to be associated with impairment on all domains of neurocognitive function ( p < 0.05) except divided attention. Depressive symptoms were found to be correlated with all the neurocognitive functions ( p < 0.05) except focused and divided attention, whereas head injury symptoms correlated with impairment on focused and divided attention ( p < 0.05). Conclusion Present study highlights the need to acknowledge affective symptoms along with clinical factors in the planning of the rehabilitation programs for such patients in rural scenario.