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CC BY 4.0 · Indian Journal of Neurotrauma 2023; 20(02): 107-115
DOI: 10.1055/s-0041-1740943
Original Article

Neuropsychological Profile of Traumatic Brain Injury Patients with Medicolegal Cases: A Pilot Study

Simi K. Prakash
1   Department of Clinical Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
,
Rajakumari P. Reddy 
1   Department of Clinical Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
,
Anna R. Mathulla 
1   Department of Clinical Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
,
Jamuna Rajeswaran
1   Department of Clinical Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
,
Dhaval P. Shukla
2   Department of Neurosurgery, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
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Abstract

Introduction Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a global health problem and is a silent epidemic of the modern times. Studies indicate litigation is a prominent factor that accounts for poor outcome and prolonged recovery from mild TBI. Depression is the most frequently diagnosed psychiatric disorder after TBI. Postconcussion symptoms, litigation, and suboptimal effort could contribute to the neuropsychological functioning of TBI patients medicolegal cases (MLCs). With increase in TBI and medicolegal cases, there is a requirement for comprehensive neuropsychological assessment.

Method The aim of the study was to evaluate the cognitive functions, postconcussion, and depressive symptoms in TBI patients with MLC and without MLCs (non-MLC). Patients were also assessed on electrophysiological parameters. An observational cross-sectional design was adopted, the sample size was 30 TBI patients in total, 15 (MLC) and 15 (non-MLC), and 11 patients from each group for electrophysiological assessment. The patients were in the age range of 18 to 50 years.

Results The MLC group had poor performance compared with the non-MLC group on both neuropsychological and electrophysiological measures. There was evidence of significant difference in verbal working memory, verbal learning, and memory and visuoconstructive ability. In the MLC group, postconcussion and depressive scores were negatively correlated with visuospatial span.

Conclusion Findings from this study indicate differences in the neuropsychological performance and electroencephalographic measures in between MLC and non-MLC groups. The results could be indicative of persistent cognitive problems associated with TBI for patients pursuing litigation. Poor performance could also be attributed to suboptimal level of effort. However, being a preliminary study with a small sample size, the findings need to be treated with caution.

Keywords

traumatic brain injury - cognition - EEG - medicolegal case - postconcussion syndrome - neuropsychology - cognitive impairment


Publication History

Article published online:
20 September 2022

© 2022. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, permitting unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction so long as the original work is properly cited. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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