Gender and traumatic brain injury: Do the sexes fare differently?

Objective: To examine the relationship between gender and cognitive recovery 1 year following traumatic brain injury (TBI). Methods: Patients with blunt TBI were identified from the TBI Model Systems of Care National Database, multi-centre cohort study. The included patients (n = 325) were 16-45 yea...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Brain injury 2007-01, Vol.21 (10), p.1023-1030
Main Authors: Ratcliff, Jonathan J., Greenspan, Arlene I., Goldstein, Felicia C., Stringer, Anthony Y., Bushnik, Tamara, Hammond, Flora M., Novack, Thomas A., Whyte, John, Wright, David W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Brain Injuries - etiology
Brain Injuries - physiopathology
closed head injury
Cognition - physiology
Cognition Disorders - etiology
Cognition Disorders - physiopathology
Cohort Studies
Female
gender
Head Injuries, Closed - complications
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Neuropsychological Tests
outcome
Recovery of Function - physiology
Sex Factors
Traumatic brain injury
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Summary:Objective: To examine the relationship between gender and cognitive recovery 1 year following traumatic brain injury (TBI). Methods: Patients with blunt TBI were identified from the TBI Model Systems of Care National Database, multi-centre cohort study. The included patients (n = 325) were 16-45 years at injury, admitted to an acute care facility within 24 hours, received inpatient rehabilitation, had documented admission Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scores, completed neuropsychological follow-up 1 year post-injury and did not report pre-morbid learning problems. Multivariate analyses of variance examined the unadjusted association between gender and six cognitive domains examining attention/working memory, verbal memory, language, visual analytic skills, problem-solving and motor functioning. Analyses of covariance models were constructed to determine if confounding factors biased the observed associations. Results: Females performed significantly better than males on tests of attention/working memory and language. Males outperformed females in visual analytic skills. Gender remained significantly associated with performance in these areas when controlling for confounding variables. Conclusions: These results suggest a better cognitive recovery of females than males following TBI. However, future studies need to include non-TBI patients to control for possible pre-injury gender-related differences, as well as to conduct extended follow-ups to determine the stability of the observed differences.
ISSN:0269-9052
1362-301X
DOI:10.1080/02699050701633072