The functional abilities of patients with traumatic brain injury according to disability rating scale on admission and at discharge during hospitalization

Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the most common cause of death and chronic motor and mental disabilities in the recent decades. There is correlation between the severity of the TBI and the patient’s functional disabilities. Disability rating scale (DRS) is one of the measurement instruments to assess the functional disability in patients with moderate to severe TBI and it can follow patients from coma to community. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to study the functional level of the TBI patients at admission and discharge phase, using DRS questionnaire. Methods: Sixty-two patients with different TBI severity score which referred to the trauma center of poursina hospital were included to this study. The DRS questionnaire had been used to measure the patient’s functional disabilities at admission and discharge phase. The DRS has 8 items separated into 4 categories; 1. Arousal and awareness (Eye Opening, Communication Ability and Motor Response); 2. Cognitive ability to perform self-care functions (Feeding, Toileting and Grooming); 3. functional dependence; 4. Employability. The maximum score a patient can gain on the DRS is 29 (severe state) and the minimum score is 0 for a person with no disability.Results: Statistical analysis with SPSS version 23.0 showed significant change in DRS total score mean from admission (22.4) to discharge (12.9) phase in survive patients and it was meaningfully indicate to the patient’s disability rate.Conclusion: The DRS scores mean at admission phase was more than its scores at discharge phase. It means that the functional disability of patients with TBI condition were more at admission phase.

Keywords:

Traumatic brain injury , Disability , Questionnaire