One-year follow-up of mild traumatic brain injury: cognition, disability and life satisfaction of patients seeking consultation.

OBJECTIVE To investigate cognitive function, symptoms, disabilities and life satisfaction of patients with mild traumatic brain injury who accepted consultation one year post-trauma. DESIGN Prospective study. PATIENTS Sixty-nine patients (16 accepted the consultation offered, 53 declined). METHODS At follow-up, the patients answered questionnaires about symptoms, disabilities (RHFUQ) and life satisfaction (LiSat-11). The patients who underwent consultation and their healthy control subjects were administered a neuropsychological evaluation. RESULTS In the group undergoing consultation, the number of cognitive tests with outcomes below cut-off limits (-1.5 SD) was statistically significantly higher compared with a control group (21 tests in 11 patients vs 8 tests in 7 control subjects; p=0.025). The number of patients with one or more disability was statistically significantly higher among patients with consultation than without (94% and 34%, respectively; p<0.001). Total RHFUQ score was statistically significantly higher for the group with consultation than without (5.9 +/- 3.7 and 1.1 +/- 2.3, respectively, p<0.001). The group with consultation exhibited a lower level of life satisfaction (41.5 +/- 10.4 vs 45.8 +/- 13.8 for the non-consulting group; p=0.057). CONCLUSION The high frequency of occurrence of disabilities and lower cognitive functioning, together with the lower level of life satisfaction, appear to characterize patients choosing consultation 1 year post-injury. This highlights the importance of offering consultation for persons suffering mild head injuries.