THURSDAY, Jan. 8, 2004 (HealthDayNews) -- Many people who suffer a traumatic brain injury experience major depression or other psychiatric illnesses within a year afterward, say two articles in the January issue of The Archives of General Psychiatry.
Researchers at the University of Iowa studied 91 patients who had experienced traumatic brain injury, evaluating their condition at three, six and 12 months after the injury.
They found 33 percent of the patients suffered major depression during the first year after their injury. Researchers also found the patients who suffered from depression were more likely to have a history of mood and anxiety disorders.
Of those with depression, about 76 percent also had anxiety and 56 percent exhibited aggressive behavior.
In a related study, researchers at the University of Washington, Seattle, studied 939 members of a health maintenance organization who had suffered a traumatic brain injury.
They found psychiatric illness in about 49 percent of patients who suffered moderate to severe injuries, 34 percent of patients who suffered mild injuries and 18 percent of the control group.
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Here's where you can learn more about traumatic brain injury.
