Background: Latin America has exceptionally high rates of traumatic brain injury (TBI), but very little research has been conducted on longitudinal TBI outcomes in this global region.
Objective: This study examined whether cognitive dysfunction and social disadaptation in individuals with TBI in Latin America at hospital discharge predict longitudinal trajectories of depression at baseline, 2 months, and 4 months.
Methods: A sample of 109 people with a new TBI was recruited from three hospitals: Mexico City, Mexico, Cali, Colombia and Neiva, Colombia. Participants completed measures of cognitive dysfunction and social disadaptation before hospital discharge and measures of depression at baseline, 2 months, and 4 months.
Results: Results suggested that depression scores were found to decrease over time in a quadratic (or U-shaped) fashion, and more significant cognitive dysfunction at hospital discharge was associated with higher longitudinal depression trajectories. Social disadaptation did not exert a unique effect on depression trajectories after controlling for cognitive dysfunction. Depression trajectories changed differentially over time as a function of baseline cognitive dysfunction, such that for those with high cognitive impairment, depression scores started high and then dropped to a moderated range and plateaued, but for individuals with low cognitive dysfunction, depression scores started lower and decreased linearly but moderately.
Conclusions: The results suggest a strong need for neuropsychological assessments and evidence-based cognitive rehabilitation strategies to be implemented immediately after TBI in Latin America, which could exert salubrious effects on depression trajectories over time.
Keywords: Latin America; Traumatic brain injury; caregivers; depression; rehabilitation.