The sooner patients begin neurorehabilitation, the better their functional outcome

• Published in: Brain injury 2013-09, Vol.27 (10), p.1119-1123
• Main Authors: León-Carrión, José, Machuca-Murga, Fernando, Solís-Marcos, Ignacio, León-Domínguez, Umberto, Domínguez-Morales, María del Rosario
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Analysis of Variance; Brain Injuries - epidemiology; Brain Injuries - physiopathology; Brain Injuries - rehabilitation; Early treatment; FAM; Female; FIM; functional outcome; Glasgow Coma Scale; Humans; Male; neurorehabilitation programmes; Patient Discharge - statistics & numerical data; Physical Therapy Modalities; Recovery of Function; Retrospective Studies; Severity of Illness Index; Spain - epidemiology; Time Factors; traumatic brain injury; Treatment Outcome
• ISSN: 0269-9052; 1362-301X
• DOI: 10.3109/02699052.2013.804204

Abstract Primary objective: To determine whether early neurorehabilitation improves a patient's functional recovery. Research design: A retrospective study was carried out on patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) who underwent a minimum of 4 months of integral and multidisciplinary neurorehabilitation. Methods and procedures: Fifty-eight patients with severe TBI were assessed at admission and at discharge using the FIM + FAM scale. Two groups were formed based on time elapsed from brain injury to onset of rehabilitation. The early treatment group (ET) included patients who began rehabilitation within the first 9 months post-trauma; the late treatment group (LT) began after the 9-month cut-off date. Intra- and between-group analysis of FIM + FAM scores were carried out at admission and discharge. Multiple linear regression was used to determine the best predictors for functional rehabilitation. Main outcomes and results: After neurorehabilitation, all subjects showed significant improvement in cognitive, motor, communication and psychosocial functioning. Moreover, the ET group showed better global functional outcome at discharge than patients who began later treatment. The best predictors for functional neurorehabilitation were months since injury, age, GCS score and months of treatment. Conclusions: It is concluded that the sooner patients begin neurorehabilitation, the better their functional outcome.