The relationship between age and the self-report of health symptoms in persons with traumatic brain injury

Objective: To examine the impact of age on health problems related to traumatic brain injury (TBI). Design: Case-control study using a survey instrument. Setting: Outpatient setting of a large urban tertiary care hospital. Participants: Young and old community dwellers with histories of TBI and control subjects matched for age. Intervention: Structured interview using the Living Life After TBI assessment tool. Main Outcome Measure: Symptom reporting on 52 potential health problems. Results: Individuals with TBI reported significantly more overall health problems than those without TBI. Younger subjects with TBI reported more problems than their nondisabled, age-matched peers with their patterns of sleep as well as with their metabolic/endocrine, neurologic, and musculoskeletal systems. Conclusions: Older people with TBI were more likely than nondisabled, age-matched peers to report problems with their metabolic/endocrine and neurologic systems. Younger people with TBI were more likely than older people with TBI to report difficulty falling asleep.