Sex differences in the long-term neuropsychological outcome of mild traumatic brain injury

Abstract

Primary objective: To investigate possible sex differences in neuropsychological functioning among patients following mild traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Methods and procedures: Retrospective records analysis of the neuropsychological test results of 102 participants with head injury, including 62 males and 40 females.

Main outcome and results: A multivariate analysis of variance indicated that females and males performed similarly on neuropsychological tests, on average, ∼2 years after minor head trauma. A sex-by-age interaction effect was found on the Category and Trail Making A Tests, with a pattern similar to those obtained in a previous research.

Conclusions: Although past research has found that females develop more TBI-related neuropsychological deficits than males in the immediate post-injury period, the present study found that, overall, sex differences in the performance of patients with mild TBI on a variety of neuropsychological tests were insignificant. More investigation into the sex-by-age interaction effect appears warranted.

• Sex differences
• neuropsychological outcome
• brain injury

Notes

†The terms ‘minor head injury’, ‘mild traumatic brain injury’ and ‘concussion’ are used interchangeably.