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Neurobehavioral outcome following minor head injury: a three-center study

Harvey S. Levin Division of Neurosurgery, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas; Department of Psychiatry, Cornell Medical College, White Plains, New York; Division of Neurosurgery, University of California at San Diego, San Diego, California; Department of Neurosurgery, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York; and Department of Biometry, The University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston, Texas

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 Ph.D.
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Steven Mattis Division of Neurosurgery, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas; Department of Psychiatry, Cornell Medical College, White Plains, New York; Division of Neurosurgery, University of California at San Diego, San Diego, California; Department of Neurosurgery, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York; and Department of Biometry, The University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston, Texas

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 Ph.D.
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Ronald M. Ruff Division of Neurosurgery, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas; Department of Psychiatry, Cornell Medical College, White Plains, New York; Division of Neurosurgery, University of California at San Diego, San Diego, California; Department of Neurosurgery, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York; and Department of Biometry, The University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston, Texas

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Howard M. Eisenberg Division of Neurosurgery, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas; Department of Psychiatry, Cornell Medical College, White Plains, New York; Division of Neurosurgery, University of California at San Diego, San Diego, California; Department of Neurosurgery, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York; and Department of Biometry, The University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston, Texas

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 M.D.
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Lawrence F. Marshall Division of Neurosurgery, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas; Department of Psychiatry, Cornell Medical College, White Plains, New York; Division of Neurosurgery, University of California at San Diego, San Diego, California; Department of Neurosurgery, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York; and Department of Biometry, The University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston, Texas

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Kamran Tabaddor Division of Neurosurgery, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas; Department of Psychiatry, Cornell Medical College, White Plains, New York; Division of Neurosurgery, University of California at San Diego, San Diego, California; Department of Neurosurgery, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York; and Department of Biometry, The University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston, Texas

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Walter M. High Jr. Division of Neurosurgery, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas; Department of Psychiatry, Cornell Medical College, White Plains, New York; Division of Neurosurgery, University of California at San Diego, San Diego, California; Department of Neurosurgery, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York; and Department of Biometry, The University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston, Texas

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 M.A.
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Ralph F. Frankowski Division of Neurosurgery, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas; Department of Psychiatry, Cornell Medical College, White Plains, New York; Division of Neurosurgery, University of California at San Diego, San Diego, California; Department of Neurosurgery, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York; and Department of Biometry, The University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston, Texas

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Page Range:
234–243
Volume/Issue:
Volume 66: Issue 2
DOI link:
https://doi.org/10.3171/jns.1987.66.2.0234
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✓ The majority of hospital admissions for head trauma are due to minor injuries; that is, no or only transient loss of consciousness without major complications and not requiring intracranial surgery. Despite the low mortality rate following minor head injury, there is controversy surrounding the extent of morbidity and the long-term sequelae. The authors postulated that consecutively admitted patients who fulfilled research diagnostic criteria for minor head injury and who were carefully screened for antecedent neuropsychiatric disorder and prior head injury would exhibit subacute cognitive and memory deficits that would resolve over a period of 1 to 3 months postinjury. To evaluate this hypothesis, the neurobehavioral functioning of 57 patients was compared within 1 week after minor head injury (baseline) and at 1 month postinjury with that of 56 selected control subjects at three medical centers. Quantified tests of memory, attention, and information-processing speed revealed that neurobehavioral impairment demonstrated at baseline by all means of measurement generally resolved during the first 3 months after minor head injury. Although nearly all patients initially reported cognitive problems, somatic complaints, and emotional malaise, these postconcussion symptoms had substantially resolved by the 3-month follow-up examination. The data suggest that a single uncomplicated minor head injury produces no permanent disabling neurobehavioral impairment in the great majority of patients who are free of preexisting neuropsychiatric disorder and substance abuse.

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Volume 66: Issue 2

Contributor Notes

Address reprint requests to: Harvey S. Levin, Ph.D., Division of Neurosurgery, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas 77550.
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