According to a multicenter, prospective cohort study, even a mild type of traumatic brain injury (TBI) can cause post-traumatic epilepsy (PTE) up to one year after the head injury occurs.

Investigators assessed data from the Transforming Research and Clinical Knowledge in Traumatic Brain Injury (TRACK-TBI) database. Patients with relatively mild TBI (GCS score 13-15) and two sex- and age-matched control groups were included in the study. A total of 1885 participants were included in the analysis, of which, 1493 had TBI, 182 were in the orthopedic trauma control (OTC) group, and 210 were in the friends/peer control group.

The study revealed that 2.7% of the participants with TBI had PTE. Additionally, these patients had significantly worse outcomes compared to those without PTE. Patients with PTE were found to have significantly lower Glasgow Outcome Scale Extended (GOSE) scores (mean, 4.7 vs. 6.1; P < .001), higher Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) scores (58.6 vs. 50.2; P = .02), and higher Rivermead Cognitive Metric (RCM) scores (5.3 vs. 3.1; P = .002) at 1 year, in comparison with those with TBI but no PTE, after controlling for age, initial GCS score, and imaging findings. The study is published in JAMA Network Open… (Medscape)