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Detecting Behavioral Deficits in Rats After Traumatic Brain Injury
Published on: January 30, 2018
Cross-Lagged Panel Analysis of Depression and Behavioral Dysfunction in the First Year After Moderate-to-Severe
Shannon B Juengst1, John M Myrga1, Jesse R Fann1
1From the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh (S.B.J., J.M.M., A.K.W.); and the Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Rehabilitation Medicine, and Epidemiology, University of Washington, Seattle (J.R.F.).
Abstract:
Timely treatment of depression and behavioral dysfunction after moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) could improve health, function, and quality of life. The authors hypothesized that 6-month depression would be the stronger contributor to later depression and behavioral dysfunction in a sample of 88 adults with moderate-to-severe TBI. A structural equation modeling cross-lagged panel analysis, adjusting for all 6-month predictors, revealed that 6-month depression had a stronger relationship to 12-month depression (βstand=0.55, p=0.002) and behavioral dysfunction (βstand=0.41, p=0.004) than did 6-month behavioral dysfunction (βstand=0.17, p=0.270, βstand=0.30, p=0.035). Depression may be in the developmental pathway to behavioral dysfunction, triggering a cycle of reciprocal causality.
