Determination of the Factors Affecting the Length of Hospitalization and Outcomes in the Rehabilitation Clinic in Patients with Traumatic Brain Injury

ABS TRACT Objective:To investigate the sociodemographic characteristics of individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI), possible complications, and identify factors that may lead to rehospitalization in rehabilitation clinics.Material and Methods: Patients with TBI aged 18 years who received inpatient rehabilitation at our hospital between 2005-2018 were retrospectively screened from the computer or archival records of our hospital.Demographical variables and complications such as spasticity, heterotopic ossification (HO), pressure ulcer, and neurogenic bladder were recorded.Results: In the study, 321 patients and 395 hospitalizations were analyzed.Of the patients, 94.1% developed complications, the most common being spasticity (69.8%),HO (29.6%), neurogenic bladder (29%), and pressure ulcers (22.1%).Knee involvement in HO was seen in 11.8% of the cases, and 6.8% of these were bilateral.HO was the most common in the hip (20.9%), and 11.1% of these cases were unilateral.Spasticity was the most common complication (96.8%) in patients with at least 3 hospitalizations.Comparison of patients with and without spasticity showed that the median length of stay in the rehabilitation clinic was 39/32 days, the median length of stay in the intensive care unit was 45/34 days, and functional ambulation classification scores (0-1-2) were observed in 63.8/45.6% of these patients, respectively (all p=0.001).Neurogenic bladder and pressure ulcers were significantly more common in patients with HO than in those without HO (p=0.001).Conclusion: Almost all patients treated in the rehabilitation ward after TBI developed complications.Spasticity is the most common complication in patients who were rehospitalized.