Coma Recovery Scale-Revised Predicts Disability Rating Scale in Acute Rehabilitation of Severe Traumatic Brain Injury

Abstract

Objective: To explore the prognostic value of the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (CRS-R) in predicting disability outcomes in patients with severe traumatic brain injury using the Disability Rating Scale (DRS).

Design: Secondary analysis including linear and logistic regressions were performed.

Setting: Data were collected in a previous clinical trial.

Participants: One hundred eighty-four participants across 3 countries (N=184).

Main outcome measures: Disability Rating Scales.

Results: Analyses showed an inverse relation between CRS-R scores obtained at baseline and change in DRS scores at 6 weeks. Similarly, changes in CRS-R scores between baseline and 4 weeks were also found to have an inverse relation to change in DRS scores at 6 weeks.

Conclusions: This study generates a tool that can be used to predict the probability that a patient with severe traumatic brain injury lands in 1 of 3 disability categories. The CRS-R may be useful in prognostication of disability in patients with severe traumatic brain injury.

Keywords: Coma recovery scale revised; Disability rating scale; Prognostication; Rehabilitation; Traumatic brain injury.