Abstract:
Abstract: Intentionally inflicted traumatic brain injury (TBI), such as those due to violence, has been a recent focus of this study. People with intentional injuries can be separated into those with self-inflicted (SI) versus other-inflicted (OI) injuries. Although there has been speculation that those with SI injuries may experience different outcomes than other people with TBI, the issue has not been examined objectively. Among 240 subjects in a prospective study, 35 experienced OI injures, usually in assaults, and 9 SI injures, usually from gunshot wounds. The groups did not differ in terms of age, education, marital status, alcohol or drug history, presence of alcohol on admission, employment at the time of injury, total Functional Independence Measure scores at rehabilitation admission and discharge, or employment, DRS or CIQ scores at 6 and 12 months post-injury. Those with SI injuries did have significantly lower GCS scores and a longer duration of post-traumatic amnesia. Based on chi-square analysis, those with OI injures were more likely to be male and African-American as compared to SI injuries, while those with SI injuries were more likely to have a history of suicide attempts. Post-injury, those with SI injuries required more supervision from family members. The results from this small sample suggest that people with SI and OI injuries differ in initial severity and etiology of injury, as well as some demographic variables, but that outcome is not significantly different, other than the need for supervision for those with SI injuries. This data supports similar rehabilitation interventions.