Middle age cognition and vocational outcome of childhood brain injury

In this almost four-decade follow-up we studied the cognitive performance of a cohort of 22 traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients in relation to vocational outcome. The patients had suffered a moderate to severe TBI in traffic accidents as preschoolers.

The neuropsychological assessment included the Profile of Mood States questionnaire and the Neurobehavioral Rating Scale. The cognitive performance of full-time working patients was compared with that of those not working.

Full-time working patients had significantly better intellectual performance than the patients not at work. Memory performance was partly defective in both groups but neither group had subjective memory complaints. All patients working full time lived in a marital relationship and had less neurobehavioral problems than the patients not at work.

Good intellectual capacity, verbal memory, and marital status were connected with a positive outcome. We suggest that as late as in middle age in spite of moderate to severe childhood TBI, it is still possible for a subgroup of patients to live a normal productive life.