Age and outcome after severe head injury

The authors analyzed the relationship between patient age and the final out come in a series of 810 patients aged 14 years or older who were consecutiv ely admitted between 1987 and 1996 after suffering a severe closed head inj ury. The most relevant clinico-radiological variables were prospectively collect ed in a Data Bank. Stratified and logistic regression analyses were perform ed in order to assess the influence of age on adverse outcome and the inter action between patient age and other prognostic indicators. Our results reaffirm that the adverse outcome rate increases steadily with age in severe head injured patients and that age effect on outcome is indep endent of other prognostic variables. The odds of having an adverse outcome increases significantly over 35 years of age being 10 times higher in pati ents older than 65 years as compared to those aged 15-25 years (reference a ge group). The adverse influence of an advanced age on the final outcome ha s not yet been satisfactorily explained but an older brain may have an impa ired ability to recover after a pathological insult as compared to a younge r one.