A comparison of functional outcomes in hypoxia and traumatic brain injury: a pilot study

We present our experience with 30 patients on functional outcomes of patients with anoxic brain injury (ABI, n=15) due to cardiac etiologies from freestanding inpatient rehabilitation hospital. A convenience sample of patient with traumatic brain injury (TBI, n=15) with similar demographic characteristic to ABI was used for comparison on indices of activity of daily living, cognition, mobility as well as other indices of functional prognosis such as hospital length of stay, cost and discharge predisposition. No statistical significant differences were found between the two groups on the presently employed outcome measures. This investigation supports the positive impact of inpatient rehabilitation for individuals with hypoxia of cardiac etiology. Future research comparing outcomes of ABI to TBI with larger, controlled trials is warranted.