Poster 48: Functional Outcomes in Traumatic Brain Injury Survivors: How Do Hispanics Measure Up?

Abstract

Objective: To examine the relationship between Hispanic ethnicity and functional outcome in traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivors. Design: Retrospective study. Setting: Longitudinal dataset of the Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems National Database. Participants: 3114 individuals with moderate to severe TBI (2798 whites vs 316 Hispanics) hospitalized between 1989 and 2003. Interventions: Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures: Functional outcomes at 1-year follow-up (Disability Rating Scale [DRS], Glasgow Outcome Scale–Extended [GOS-E], FIM instrument, Community Integration Questionnaire [CIQ]). Results: At admission, Hispanics were less educated (P≤.001), earned less money (P≤.05), and were slightly younger (P≤.001) than whites. Hispanics were twice as likely to suffer a violence-related TBI. Hispanics had lower Glasgow Coma Scale scores (P≤.01) compared with whites but received similar minutes of rehabilitation therapies. Hispanics received significantly more minutes of psychotherapy (P≤.01) before discharge. Hispanic ethnicity was associated with poorer functional outcomes at 1 year postinjury (DRS, GOS-E, FIM, CIQ), after controlling for age, length of posttraumatic amnesia, injury severity, and preinjury educational level (P≤.05). Conclusions: Hispanics showed significantly reduced long-term functional outcome after rehabilitation relative to whites. Rehabilitation professionals must recognize the impact of individual differences and diverse sociodemographic, injury, and rehabilitation characteristics so that health disparities among TBI survivors can be reduced.