One-year employment outcome prediction after traumatic brain injury: A CENTER-TBI study

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can come with long term consequences for functional outcome that can complicate return to work.

This study aims to make accurate patient-specific predictions on one-year return to work after TBI using machine learning algorithms. Within this process, specific research questions were defined: ¹ How can we make accurate predictions on employment outcome, and does this require follow-up data beyond hospitalization? ² Which predictors are required to make accurate predictions? ³ Are predictions accurate enough for use in clinical practice?

This study used the core CENTER-TBI observational cohort dataset, collected across 18 European countries between 2014 and 2017. Hospitalized patients with sufficient follow-up data were selected for the current analysis (N = 586). Data regarding hospital stay and follow-up until three months post-injury were used to predict return to work after one year. Three distinct algorithms were used to predict employment outcomes: elastic net logistic regression, random forest and gradient boosting. Finally, a reduced model and corresponding ROC-curve was created.

Full models without follow-up achieved an area under the curve (AUC) of about 81 %, which increased up to 88 % with follow-up data. A reduced model with five predictors achieved similar results with an AUC of 90 %.

The addition of three-month follow-up data causes a notable increase in model performance. The reduced model - containing Glasgow Outcome Scale Extended, pre-injury job class, pre-injury employment status, length of stay and age - matched the predictive performance of the full models. Accurate predictions on post-TBI vocational outcomes contribute to realistic prognosis and goal setting, targeting the right interventions to the right patients.