Factors affecting cognition and emotion in patients with traumatic brain injury.

Background: Cognitive and emotional disturbances are common serious issues in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, predictors associated with neuropsychological functions were not consistent.

Objective: To investigate factors affecting cognition and emotion in patients with TBI, we evaluated executive function, memory, and emotion based on injury severity and lesion location.

Methods: Neuropsychological outcomes of 80 TBI patients were evaluated via Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Color Trail Test (CTT), Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT), Everyday Memory Questionnaire (EMQ), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and Agitated Behavior Scale (ABS). WCST, CTT, and COWAT assessed executive function; EMQ assessed everyday memory; and GDS, STAI, and ABS assessed emotion. Patients were categorized according to lateralization of lesion and existence of frontal lobe injury.

Results: Patients with longer duration of loss of consciousness (LOC) showed more severe deficits in everyday memory and agitated behaviors. The frontal lesion group showed poorer performance in executive function and higher agitation than the non-frontal lesion group. Patients with bilateral frontal lesion showed greater deficits in executive function and were more depressed than unilateral frontal lesion groups. Especially in those unilateral frontal lesion groups, right side frontal lesion group was worse on executive function than left side frontal lesion group.

Conclusions: Duration of LOC and lesion location are main parameters affecting executive function, everyday memory, and emotion in neuropsychological outcomes following TBI, suggesting that these parameters need to be considered for cognitive rehabilitation interventions.