Does Physical Fitness Prior to Traumatic Brain Injury Affect Recovery Outcomes? A Scoping Review of Human and Animal...

The objective of this study was to identify whether physical fitness influences outcomes following traumatic brain injury (TBI) in humans and animals, and to highlight any knowledge gaps in the current literature. A search of EMBASE, MEDLINE, SCOPUS, BIOSIS, and Cochrane Libraries was performed on December 4, 2023 (from database inception), and a systematic scoping review of the resulting literature was conducted. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for scoping reviews was used for reporting the results. An online systematic review management system was used to remove all duplicates and for subsequent article screening. Following the removal of duplicates, the search identified 6,818 articles for screening, of which 10 articles met the inclusion/exclusion criteria and were included. One study was conducted in humans, while the remaining nine utilized murine models. The available literature is limited and has investigated a large variety of outcomes that were not consistent across studies. Additionally, the pre-TBI exercise intervention or fitness assessment method varied between the studies. With the current literature, it is not possible to draw conclusions regarding the effects of physical fitness level and outcomes following a TBI.