Past History of Substance Misuse Impedes Attentional Recovery After Moderate to Severe Traumatic Brain Injury
Year: 2017
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Degree of cognitive recovery from a moderate-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) will affect the extent of permanent disability sustained; therefore, it is critical to understand which factors may enhance or impede recovery. Since attentional impairments affect 40-60% of moderate-severe TBI patients, and elevated use of psychotropic substances can have lasting effects on attention and attention-related structures, the role of pre-injury substance misuse on attentional recovery was examined. Attentional recovery from 2 to 5 months post-injury in moderate-severe TBI patients was compared in those with versus without self-reported high levels of substance misuse. Those with high substance misuse recovered significantly less on an aggregate score of attention, and on 4 of the 8 individual tests of attention that comprised the aggregate: Trail-Making Test A, Stroop Colour-Word, Stroop Word, and Verbal Fluency Test (Phonemic). This is the first study to demonstrate that pre-injury substance misuse may reduce attentional recovery after moderate-severe TBI.
Source: TSpace (University of Toronto)
Author: Alana Tibbles
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Neurology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2747120954