The sooner patients begin neurorehabilitation, the better their functional outcome

José León-Carrión, Fernando MacHuca-Murga, Ignacio Solís-Marcos, Umberto León-Domínguez, María Del Rosario Domínguez-Morales

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

29 Citations (Scopus)

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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1119-1123
Number of pages5
JournalBrain Injury
Volume27
Issue number10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2013
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Copyright:
Copyright 2017 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Neuroscience (miscellaneous)
  • Developmental and Educational Psychology
  • Clinical Neurology

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