Prediction of employment status 2 years after traumatic brain injury

Abstract

The present study used a multivariate approach to investigate which of a range of variables relating to demographic factors, injury severity and degree of disability on admission to rehabilitation were the best predictors of employment status 2 years after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Subjects were 74 TBI patients who had been working prior to injury, had undergone rehabilitation at Bethesda Hospital and attended a review clinic 2 years after injury. A cross-validation sample consisted of a further 50 such subjects. Following preliminary analysis four input variables were selected: age under or over 40 at time of injury, Glasgow Coma Scale score on acute hospital admission, duration of post-traumatic amnesia and total score on the Disability Rating Scale (DRS) on admission to rehabilitation. Stepwise discriminant function analysis resulted in a discriminant function consisting of three variables--total score on the Disability Rating Scale, Glasgow Coma Scale Score and age--which correctly classified 74% of grouped cases. A second analysis using the original discriminant function correctly classified 68% of the cross-validation sample. Chi-square analysis showed no significant difference between these results, thus confirming these variables, in combination, as predictors of employment status 2 years after TBI.