The Utility of the Modified Barthel Index for Traumatic Brain Injury Rehabilitation and Prognosis

Abstract

The aim of this correlational study was to examine the utility of the Modified Barthel Index (MBI) in measuring functional outcome and in determining its predictive ability at the commencement of rehabilitation. All 79 patients with a traumatic brain injury admitted in 12 months were the participants in the study. Functional status, as measured by the MBI total scores on admission to and discharge from comprehensive rehabilitation, and all available independent variables on admission were extracted. The study found that 85% of admissions were male. The participants' mean age was 28 ± 10.67 years, 73% of them were single and 97% had a diagnosis of closed traumatic brain injury confirmed by a CAT scan. Their rehabilitation stay was 61 ± 65 days. The admission MBI scores were 75 ± 30 and the discharge scores were 93 ± 29. In a stepwise regression, initial deficit as measured by the MBI, delay in commencing rehabilitation and age contributed to explaining 68% of variance. However, when the MBI scores were transformed, the fourth root of the admission score alone explained 84% of variance. This predictive ability is far superior to the findings of many other studies.