Functional Outcomes From Inpatient Rehabilitation After Traumatic Brain Injury: How Do Hispanics Fare?
Presented as a poster to the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine, September 28 to October 1, 2005, Chicago, IL.
Abstract
Arango-Lasprilla JC, Rosenthal M, DeLuca J, Cifu DX, Hanks R, Komaroff E. Functional outcomes from inpatient rehabilitation after traumatic brain injury: how do Hispanics fare?
Objective
To examine the relation between Hispanic ethnicity and rehabilitation outcome in traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivors.
Design
Retrospective study.
Setting
Longitudinal dataset of the Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems national database.
Participants
Persons (N=3056; 2745 whites vs 311 Hispanics) with moderate to severe TBI hospitalized between 1989 and 2003.
Interventions
Not applicable.
Main Outcome Measures
Functional outcomes at discharge and 1-year follow-up (Disability Rating Scale [DRS], FIM instrument). Glasgow Outcome Scale−Extended (GOS-E), and the Community Integration Questionnaire (CIQ) were measured at follow-up only.
Results
At admission, Hispanics were less educated (P≤.001), earned less money (P≤.05), and were younger (P≤.001) than whites. Hispanics had lower GOS-E scores (P≤.01) at acute hospital admission compared with whites. Despite similar functional status at inpatient rehabilitation discharge, Hispanic ethnicity was associated with poorer functional outcomes at 1 year postinjury (DRS, FIM, CIQ), after controlling for age, length of posttraumatic amnesia, injury severity, DRS score at admission, FIM score at admission, and preinjury educational level (P<.05).
Conclusions
Hispanics showed significantly reduced long-term functional outcome after rehabilitation relative to whites. Rehabilitation professionals should recognize the possible impact of individual differences and diverse sociodemographic, injury, and rehabilitation characteristics so that differential health outcomes among TBI survivors can be reduced or eliminated.
aKessler Medical Rehabilitation Research and Education Corp, West Orange, NJ
bDepartment of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, NJ
cDepartment of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA
dDepartment of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI.
Reprint requests to Juan Carlos Arango-Lasprilla, PhD, Neuropsychology and Neuroscience Laboratory, Kessler Medical Rehabilitation Research and Education Corp, 300 Executive Dr, Ste 010, West Orange, NJ 07052.
Supported in part by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (grants no. H133A011403, H133A020515), the National Institutes of Health (grants no. HD07522-05, T32 HD007522-05), and the Henry H. Kessler Foundation.
No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit upon the author(s) or upon any organization with which the author(s) is/are associated.
ABSTRACT