Measuring processing speed after traumatic brain injury in the outpatient clinic

Objectives: To evaluate processing speed performance in outpatients with moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Design: Prospective cross-sectional observational study. Participants: Twenty outpatients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) were compared with 20 matched healthy subjects. Measure: Measurement by six instruments in the domains of simple reaction time (SRT), movement time (MT), and mental processing speed at a single time occasion. Results: Significant differences were found in speed but not accuracy of work between outpatients with TBI and healthy subjects. Simple reaction time was sensitive to predicting patients with moderate-to-severe TBI as opposed to healthy counterparts. Conclusion: Outpatient clinics should consider measuring SRT.