Impact of the presence of alcohol at the time of injury on acute and one-year cognitive and functional recovery after traumatic brain injury

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Study examined the impact of blood alcohol level (BAL) at the time of injury on injury severity, and functional or cognitive outcome after traumatic brain injury (TBI). A total of 482 patients admitted to a large urban medical center with documented TBI and blood alcohol testing results were included in the study. Functional outcomes were measured by the Functional Independence Measure (FIM) and cognitive outcomes were measured using neuropsychological tests known to be sensitive to the consequences of TBI. Analyses revealed a statistically significant negative impact of alcohol intoxication at the time of injury on Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS); however intoxication only lowered GCS by an average of 1.9 points. There was a statistically significant relationship between BAL and FIM at the time of admission to inpatient rehabilitation, but BAL accounted for only 3 percent of the variance in FIM total score. There was no relationship between BAL and FIM at discharge from rehabilitation or at 1-year follow-up. There was no statistically significant relationship between BAL at the time of injury and cognitive functioning at 1-year follow-up; however, contrary to the hypotheses GCS failed to show a strong relationship with cognitive outcome.

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