Racial/ethnic disparities in mental health over the first 2 years after traumatic brain injury: a model systems study.

Objective: To determine whether racial/ethnic disparities occur in depression, anxiety, and satisfaction with life at 1 and 2 years postdischarge.

Design: A prospective, longitudinal, multicenter study of individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) participating in the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems project. Medical, demographic, and outcome data were obtained from the Model Systems database at baseline, as well as 1 and 2 years postdischarge.

Setting: A total of 16 TBI Model Systems hospitals in the United States.

Participants: Individuals with moderate or severe TBI (N=1662) aged 16 years or older consecutively discharged between January 2008 and June 2011 from acute care and comprehensive inpatient rehabilitation at a Model Systems hospital.

Intervention: Not applicable.

Main Outcome Measures: The Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale, and Satisfaction with Life Scale assessed depression, anxiety, and satisfaction with life at 1 and 2-year follow-ups.

Results: After controlling for all possible covariates, hierarchal linear models found that black individuals had elevated depression across the 2 time points relative to white individuals. Asian/Pacific Islanders' depression increased over time in comparison to the decreasing depression in those of Hispanic origin, which was a greater decrease than in white individuals. Black individuals had lower life satisfaction than did white and Hispanic individuals, but only marginally greater anxiety over time than did white individuals and similar levels of anxiety as did Asian/Pacific Islanders and Hispanic individuals.

Conclusions: Mental health trajectories of individuals with TBI differed as a function of race/ethnicity across the first 2 years postdischarge, providing the first longitudinal evidence of racial/ethnic disparities in mental health after TBI during this time period. Further research will be required to understand the complex factors underlying these differences.