NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL, PSYCHOSOCIAL AND VOCATIONAL CORRELATES OF THE GLASGOW-OUTCOME-SCALE AT 6 MONTHS POSTINJURY - A STUDY OF MODERATE TO SEVERE TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY PATIENTS

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) subjects at Glasgow Outcome Scale levels 3 (severe disability), 4 (moderate disability), 5 (good recovery), and an other-injury control group (OIC) were compared in terms of neurops ychological, psychosocial, and vocational functioning 6 months after i njury. Subjects were a sample of 100 patients with a moderate to sever e traumatic brain injury (TBI) and a matched sample of 30 other-injury control subjects (OIC) enrolled in the UCLA Brain Injury Research Cen ter study of TBI outcome. Overall, the results showed a systematic dec rease in mean neuropsychological test performance as a function of inc reasing GOS severity, as well as an increased prevalence of symptoms o f depression and lower ratings on measures assessing employability and capacity for self care. TBI patients in the 'severe' and 'moderate di sability' groups were distinctly inferior to the 'good recovery' and ' OIC' groups, who were quite similar to each other in terms of cognitiv e, psychosocial, and vocational outcomes. The results demonstrate over all support for the predictive and concurrent validity of the GOS 6 mo nths post injury. Despite these results, which strengthen the utility and appeal of the GOS for multicentre studies, concerns still remain r egarding GOS category 4 (moderate disability), which was shown to lack sufficient discriminability in this study.