TBI and Depression Link Confirmed – U of I Dept of Neuro again proven wrong.

It seems the U of I, Dept. of Neurology is being proven wrong. They seem to always take the insurance industry side that unless a person is knocked out for a long period of time (loss of consciousness) that there can't be any long term effects from brain damage (TBI). A new article associating depression with traumatic brain injury is published by Neurology Today. Here is what the authors found: "Investigators found that about half of 559 patients who had traumatic brain injury suffered from major depression for a year after the injury. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) may lead to major depression, according to a new study conducted by scientists at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle. The team followed 559 patients for a year after the injury and found that about half of them were suffering from major depression, a rate much higher than expected. The results of the study appeared in the May 18 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Other studies have reported higher rates of depression among TBI patients but the sample sizes were small, there was selection bias, the studies were retrospective, and many relied on invalidated measures of depression and did not take into account a history of depression at the time of the injury."

With an opinion as if there is no room for doubt the University Of Iowa Department Of Neurology has turned itself into the insurance industry's pet project for defense opinions.

See Neurology Today, TBI Associated With Major Depression: Screening for Depression Urged, 1 July 2010 - Volume 10 - Issue 13 - p 17, doi: 10.1097/01.NT.0000384114.41451.91.

References: Bombardier CH, Fann JR, Dikmen SS, et al. Rates of major depressive disorder and clinical outcomes following traumatic brain injury. JAMA 2010;303(19):1938-1945.

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