Cognitive Functioning, Social Participation, and Quality of Life in Older Adults With Traumatic Brain Injury

Abstract

<h3>Research Objectives</h3> To describe objective and subjective cognitive functioning in older adults with TBI, and to determine whether cognitive functioning is associated with health-related quality of life and social participation. <h3>Design</h3> Cohort study <h3>Setting</h3> General community. <h3>Participants</h3> Participants were 40 individuals aged 65 or older who were hospitalized in a Level I trauma center following a mild to severe TBI (mean age = 73 ± 5 years; 25% women; 65% mild, 35% moderate/severe TBI). <h3>Interventions</h3> Not applicable. <h3>Main Outcome Measures</h3> On average 15 months post-injury, participants completed telephone measures of objective (global functioning: TICS-m = Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status-Modified; executive functioning: Alphaflex) and subjective cognitive functioning (MOS-Cog = Medical Outcomes Study Cognitive Functioning Scale), and self-reported questionnaires on health-related quality of life (SF-12 Mental and Physical Component Scores) and social participation (PART-O = Participation Assessment with Recombined Tools – Objective). <h3>Results</h3> Global objective cognitive functioning (TICS-m) was lower than normative values, while executive functioning (Alphaflex) and subjective cognitive functioning (MOS-Cog) were comparable to normative values. There was no relationship between objective and subjective cognitive measures. Poorer subjective cognitive functioning was associated with lower education, but cognitive measures were not associated with age, sex, or TBI severity or mechanism. Subjective cognitive functioning (MOS-Cog), and to a lesser extent global objective cognitive functioning (TICS-m), were significantly associated with mental health-related quality of life (SF-12), but not with physical health-related quality of life (SF-12) or social participation (PART-O). <h3>Conclusions</h3> These results underscore the importance of considering both subjective perception and objective performance when assessing and intervening on cognition to promote better mental HRQoL in older adults with TBI. <h3>Author(s) Disclosures</h3> The authors report no conflicts of interest.