Test–Retest Reliability of a Semi-Structured Interview to Aid in Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury Diagnosis

Author(s):  
Danielle C. Hergert ◽  
Veronik Sicard ◽  
David D. Stephenson ◽  
Sharvani Pabbathi Reddy ◽  
Cidney R. Robertson-Benta ◽  
...  

Abstract Objective: Retrospective self-report is typically used for diagnosing previous pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI). A new semi-structured interview instrument (New Mexico Assessment of Pediatric TBI; NewMAP TBI) investigated test–retest reliability for TBI characteristics in both the TBI that qualified for study inclusion and for lifetime history of TBI. Method: One-hundred and eight-four mTBI (aged 8–18), 156 matched healthy controls (HC), and their parents completed the NewMAP TBI within 11 days (subacute; SA) and 4 months (early chronic; EC) of injury, with a subset returning at 1 year (late chronic; LC). Results: The test–retest reliability of common TBI characteristics [loss of consciousness (LOC), post-traumatic amnesia (PTA), retrograde amnesia, confusion/disorientation] and post-concussion symptoms (PCS) were examined across study visits. Aside from PTA, binary reporting (present/absent) for all TBI characteristics exhibited acceptable (≥0.60) test–retest reliability for both Qualifying and Remote TBIs across all three visits. In contrast, reliability for continuous data (exact duration) was generally unacceptable, with LOC and PCS meeting acceptable criteria at only half of the assessments. Transforming continuous self-report ratings into discrete categories based on injury severity resulted in acceptable reliability. Reliability was not strongly affected by the parent completing the NewMAP TBI. Conclusions: Categorical reporting of TBI characteristics in children and adolescents can aid clinicians in retrospectively obtaining reliable estimates of TBI severity up to a year post-injury. However, test–retest reliability is strongly impacted by the initial data distribution, selected statistical methods, and potentially by patient difficulty in distinguishing among conceptually similar medical concepts (i.e., PTA vs. confusion).

Author(s):  
Natalie A. Emmert ◽  
Georgia Ristow ◽  
Michael A. McCrea ◽  
Terri A. deRoon-Cassini ◽  
Lindsay D. Nelson

Abstract Objective: Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) symptoms are typically assessed via questionnaires in research, yet questionnaires may be more prone to biases than direct clinical interviews. We compared mTBI symptoms reported on two widely used self-report inventories and the novel Structured Interview of TBI Symptoms (SITS). Second, we explored the association between acquiescence response bias and symptom reporting across modes of assessment. Method: Level 1 trauma center patients with mTBI (N = 73) were recruited within 2 weeks of injury, assessed at 3 months post-TBI, and produced nonacquiescent profiles. Assessments collected included the SITS (comprising open-ended and closed-ended questions), Rivermead Post Concussion Symptoms Questionnaire (RPQ), Sport Concussion Assessment Tool-3 (SCAT-3) symptom checklist, and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 Restructured Form True Response Inconsistency (TRIN-r) scale. Results: Current mTBI symptom burden and individual symptom endorsement were highly concordant between SITS closed-ended questions, the RPQ, and the SCAT-3. Within the SITS, participants reported significantly fewer mTBI symptoms to open-ended as compared to later closed-ended questions, and this difference was weakly correlated with TRIN-r. Symptom scales were weakly associated with TRIN-r. Conclusions: mTBI symptom reporting varies primarily by whether questioning is open- vs. closed-ended but not by mode of assessment (interview, questionnaire). Acquiescence response bias appears to play a measurable but small role in mTBI symptom reporting overall and the degree to which participants report more symptoms to closed- than open-ended questioning. These findings have important implications for mTBI research and support the validity of widely used TBI symptom inventories.


Neurology ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 10.1212/WNL.0000000000012222
Author(s):  
Emily L Dennis ◽  
Karen Caeyenberghs ◽  
Kristen R Hoskinson ◽  
Tricia L Merkley ◽  
Stacy J Suskauer ◽  
...  

Objective:Our study addressed aims: (1) test the hypothesis that moderate-severe TBI in pediatric patients is associated with widespread white matter (WM) disruption; (2) test the hypothesis that age and sex impact WM organization after injury; and (3) examine associations between WM organization and neurobehavioral outcomes.Methods:Data from ten previously enrolled, existing cohorts recruited from local hospitals and clinics were shared with the ENIGMA (Enhancing NeuroImaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis) Pediatric msTBI working group. We conducted a coordinated analysis of diffusion MRI (dMRI) data using the ENIGMA dMRI processing pipeline.Results:Five hundred and seven children and adolescents (244 with complicated mild to severe TBI [msTBI] and 263 controls) were included. Patients were clustered into three post-injury intervals: acute/subacute - <2 months, post-acute - 2-6 months, chronic - 6+ months. Outcomes were dMRI metrics and post-injury behavioral problems as indexed by the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Our analyses revealed altered WM diffusion metrics across multiple tracts and all post-injury intervals (effect sizes ranging between d=-0.5 to -1.3). Injury severity is a significant contributor to the extent of WM alterations but explained less variance in dMRI measures with increasing time post-injury. We observed a sex-by-group interaction: females with TBI had significantly lower fractional anisotropy in the uncinate fasciculus than controls (𝞫=0.043), which coincided with more parent-reported behavioral problems (𝞫=-0.0027).Conclusions:WM disruption after msTBI is widespread, persistent, and influenced by demographic and clinical variables. Future work will test techniques for harmonizing neurocognitive data, enabling more advanced analyses to identify symptom clusters and clinically-meaningful patient subtypes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 2007
Author(s):  
Juan Arango-Lasprilla ◽  
Marina Zeldovich ◽  
Laiene Olabarrieta-Landa ◽  
Marit Forslund ◽  
Silvia Núñez-Fernández ◽  
...  

Sustaining a traumatic brain injury (TBI) often affects the individual’s ability to work, reducing employment rates post-injury across all severities of TBI. The objective of this multi-country study was to assess the most relevant early predictors of employment status in individuals after TBI at one-year post-injury in European countries. Using a prospective longitudinal non-randomized observational cohort (The Collaborative European NeuroTrauma Effectiveness Research in TBI (CENTER-TBI) project), data was collected between December 2014–2019 from 63 trauma centers in 18 European countries. The 1015 individuals who took part in this study were potential labor market participants, admitted to a hospital and enrolled within 24 h of injury with a clinical TBI diagnosis and indication for a computed tomography (CT) scan, and followed up at one year. Results from a binomial logistic regression showed that older age, status of part-time employment or unemployment at time of injury, premorbid psychiatric problems, and higher injury severity (as measured with higher Injury severity score (ISS), lower Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), and longer length of stay (LOS) in hospital) were associated with higher unemployment probability at one-year after injury. The study strengthens evidence for age, employment at time of injury, premorbid psychiatric problems, ISS, GCS, and LOS as important predictors for employment status one-year post-TBI across Europe.


2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 918-918
Author(s):  
Sullivan K ◽  
Hennessy M

Abstract Objective Little is known about the traumatic brain injury (TBI) outcomes for people returning to urban versus rural communities. These communities typically differ in terms of the availability of formal and informal supports. We compared patient-reported TBI outcomes for three communities (urban, rural, and remote) and modelled their predictors. Method Six hundred and sixty-two cases with mild-to-severe TBI were identified from hospital records. These individuals received a mail-out survey comprised of standardized outcome measures. The measures assessed: symptoms, quality-of-life, service obstacles, unmet needs, mental health, and community integration. Ninety-one people who were less than two years post-injury returned a usable survey (18% response rate). The location of communities was coded using the Accessibility Remoteness Index of Australia (urban n = 22, rural n = 43, remote n = 26). Results There were no differences in the outcomes due to location (p’s &gt; .05). The significant individual predictors of five of the six outcomes were the participant’s sex, age, and the injury severity; but location did not play a role. TBI outcomes were typically worse if the injury was severe, or if the injured person was older or female. For one outcome (community integration) males fared worse than females. Conclusion Contrary to expectations, location did not affect patient-reported TBI outcomes. This could indicate that the same supports are available to patients, despite their location or; that the different supports were relied on to achieve the same outcomes. The overall findings urge continued investment in TBI rehabilitation, particularly for the subgroups that experienced the worst outcomes.


2011 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 663-673 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chad P. Johnson ◽  
Jenifer Juranek ◽  
Larry A. Kramer ◽  
Mary R. Prasad ◽  
Paul R. Swank ◽  
...  

AbstractBehavioral dysregulation is a common and detrimental consequence of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in children that contributes to poor academic achievement and deficits in social development. Unfortunately, behavioral dysregulation is difficult to predict from either injury severity or early neuropsychological evaluation. The uncinate fasciculus (UF) connects orbitofrontal and anterior temporal lobes, which are commonly implicated in emotional and behavioral regulation. Using probabilistic diffusion tensor tractography (DTT), we examined the relationship between the integrity of the UF 3 months post-injury and ratings of executive functions 12 months post-injury in children with moderate to severe TBI and a comparison group with orthopedic injuries. As expected, fractional anisotropy of the UF was lower in the TBI group relative to the orthopedic injury group. DTT metrics from the UF served as a biomarker and predicted ratings of emotional and behavior regulation, but not metacognition. In contrast, the Glasgow Coma Scale score was not related to either UF integrity or to executive function outcomes. Neuroanatomical biomarkers like the uncinate fasciculus may allow for early identification of behavioral problems and allow for investigation into the relationship of frontotemporal networks to brain-behavior relationships. (JINS, 2011, 17, 663–673)


2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 400-411 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle May ◽  
Maarten Milders ◽  
Bruce Downey ◽  
Maggie Whyte ◽  
Vanessa Higgins ◽  
...  

AbstractObjectives:The negative effect of changes in social behavior following traumatic brain injury (TBI) are known, but much less is known about the neuropsychological impairments that may underlie and predict these changes. The current study investigated possible associations between post-injury behavior and neuropsychological competencies of emotion recognition, understanding intentions, and response selection, that have been proposed as important for social functioning.Methods:Forty participants with TBI and 32 matched healthy participants completed a battery of tests assessing the three functions of interest. In addition, self- and proxy reports of pre- and post-injury behavior, mood, and community integration were collected.Results:The TBI group performed significantly poorer than the comparison group on all tasks of emotion recognition, understanding intention, and on one task of response selection. Ratings of current behavior suggested significant changes in the TBI group relative to before the injury and showed significantly poorer community integration and interpersonal behavior than the comparison group. Of the three functions considered, emotion recognition was associated with both post-injury behavior and community integration and this association could not be fully explained by injury severity, time since injury, or education.Conclusions:The current study confirmed earlier findings of associations between emotion recognition and post-TBI behavior, providing partial evidence for models proposing emotion recognition as one of the pre-requisites for adequate social functioning. (JINS, 2017,23, 400–411)


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 20
Author(s):  
Don Krieger ◽  
Paul Shepard ◽  
Ryan Soose ◽  
Ava M. Puccio ◽  
Sue Beers ◽  
...  

Neuroelectric measures derived from human magnetoencephalographic (MEG) recordings hold promise as aides to diagnosis and treatment monitoring and targeting for chronic sequelae of traumatic brain injury (TBI). This study tests novel MEG-derived regional brain measures of tonic neuroelectric activation for long-term test-retest reliability and sensitivity to symptoms. Resting state MEG recordings were obtained from a normative cohort, Cambridge Centre for Ageing and Neuroscience (CamCAN), baseline: n = 619; mean 16-month follow-up: n = 253) and a chronic symptomatic TBI cohort, Targeted Evaluation, Action and Monitoring of Traumatic Brain Injury (TEAM-TBI), baseline: n = 64; mean 6-month follow-up: n = 39). For the CamCAN cohort, MEG-derived neuroelectric measures showed good long-term test-retest reliability for most of the 103 automatically identified stereotypic regions. The TEAM-TBI cohort was screened for depression, somatization, and anxiety with the Brief Symptom Inventory and for insomnia with the Insomnia Severity Index. Linear classifiers constructed from the 103 regional measures from each TEAM-TBI cohort member distinguished those with and without each symptom, with p < 0.01 for each—i.e., the tonic regional neuroelectric measures of activation are sensitive to the presence/absence of these symptoms. The novel regional MEG-derived neuroelectric measures obtained and tested in this study demonstrate the necessary and sufficient properties to be clinically useful—i.e., good test-retest reliability, sensitivity to symptoms in each individual, and obtainable using automatic processing without human judgement or intervention.


2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. E1-E16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer A. Bogner ◽  
Gale G. Whiteneck ◽  
Jessica MacDonald ◽  
Shannon B. Juengst ◽  
Allen W. Brown ◽  
...  

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