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Cognitive sequelae of repeated head injury in a population of intravenous drug users
Author(s) -
HESTAD KNUT,
UPDIKE MARCIA,
SELNES OLA A.,
ROYAL WALTER
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.743
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1467-9450
pISSN - 0036-5564
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9450.1995.tb00984.x
Subject(s) - head injury , neuropsychology , psychology , cognition , population , closed head injury , cognitive impairment , intravenous drug , head trauma , psychiatry , physical medicine and rehabilitation , clinical psychology , medicine , traumatic brain injury , surgery , virus , environmental health , virology , viral disease
The relationship between closed head injury and performance on neuropsychological (NP) tests was investigated in a group of intravenous drug users (IVDUs). Subjects with repeated head traumas involving loss of consciousness (LOC) performed worse than both a control group without LOC and reference group with only a single episode of LOC. There were no significant differences between the last two groups. Performance on tests of memory, attention, and motor performance was significantly worse in the group with repeated head injury. The average time since the last episode of LOC was more than 11 years. We conclude from these findings that a single episode of LOC does not result in significant cognitive impairment in this population. Two or more episodes, however, are more likely to produce chronic cognitive impairment.