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Prospective, Head-to-Head Study of Three Computerized Neurocognitive Assessment Tools Part 2: Utility for Assessment of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in Emergency Department Patients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2017

Lindsay D. Nelson*
Affiliation:
Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Robyn E. Furger
Affiliation:
Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Peter Gikas
Affiliation:
Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
E. Brooke Lerner
Affiliation:
Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
William B. Barr
Affiliation:
New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York
Thomas A. Hammeke
Affiliation:
Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Christopher Randolph
Affiliation:
Loyola University Medical School, Maywood, Illinois
Kevin Guskiewicz
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Michael A. McCrea
Affiliation:
Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to: Lindsay Nelson, Department of Neurosurgery, Neuroscience Research Center, 8701 West Watertown Plank Road, Milwaukee, WI 53226. E-mail: linelson@mcw.edu

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of three computerized neurocognitive assessment tools (CNTs; i.e., ANAM, DANA, and ImPACT) for assessing mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) in patients recruited through a level I trauma center emergency department (ED). Methods: mTBI (n=94) and matched trauma control (n=80) subjects recruited from a level I trauma center emergency department completed symptom and neurocognitive assessments within 72 hr of injury and at 15 and 45 days post-injury. Concussion symptoms were also assessed via phone at 8 days post-injury. Results: CNTs did not differentiate between groups at any time point (e.g., M 72-hr Cohen’s d=−.16, .02, and .00 for ANAM, DANA, and ImPACT, respectively; negative values reflect greater impairment in the mTBI group). Roughly a quarter of stability coefficients were over .70 across measures and test–retest intervals in controls. In contrast, concussion symptom score differentiated mTBI vs. control groups acutely), with this effect size diminished over time (72-hr and day 8, 15, and 45 Cohen’s d=−.78, −.60, −.49, and −.35, respectively). Conclusions: The CNTs evaluated, developed and widely used to assess sport-related concussion, did not yield significant differences between patients with mTBI versus other injuries. Symptom scores better differentiated groups than CNTs, with effect sizes weaker than those reported in sport-related concussion studies. Nonspecific injury factors, and other characteristics common in ED settings, likely affect CNT performance across trauma patients as a whole and thereby diminish the validity of CNTs for assessing mTBI in this patient population. (JINS, 2017, 23, 293–303)

Type
Research Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 2017 

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