Citation

Lew HL, Garvert DW, Pogoda TK, Hsu PT, Devine JM, White DK, Myers PJ, Goodrich GL. J. Rehabil. Res. Dev. 2009; 46(6): 819-826.

Affiliation

Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Service, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Rehabilitation Research and Development Service, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

20104405

Abstract

The frequencies of hearing impairment (HI), vision impairment (VI), or dual (hearing and vision) sensory impairment (DSI) in patients with blast-related traumatic brain injury (TBI) and their effects on functional recovery are not well documented. In this preliminary study of 175 patients admitted to a Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center, we completed hearing and vision examinations and obtained Functional Independence Measure (FIM) scores at admission and discharge for 62 patients with blast-related TBI. We diagnosed HI only, VI only, and DSI in 19%, 34%, and 32% of patients, respectively. Only 15% of the patients had no sensory impairment in either auditory or visual modality. An analysis of variance showed a group difference for the total and motor FIM scores at discharge (p < 0.04). Regression model analyses demonstrated that DSI significantly contributed to reduced gain in total ( t = -2.25) and motor ( t = -2.50) FIM scores ( p < 0.05). Understanding the long-term consequences of sensory impairments in the functional recovery of patients with blast-related TBI requires further research.

Language: en