Objective: To evaluate the relationship between satisfaction with life (SWL) and functional outcome after traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Setting and participants: The Transforming Research and Clinical Knowledge in Traumatic Brain Injury Pilot study (TRACK-TBI Pilot) enrolled patients at 3 US Level I trauma centers within 24 hours of TBI.
Design: Patients were grouped by outcome measure concordance (good-recovery/good-satisfaction, impaired-recovery/impaired-satisfaction) and discordance (good-recovery/impaired-satisfaction, impaired-recovery/good-satisfaction). Logistic regression was utilized to determine predictors of discordance.
Main measures: Functional outcome: Glasgow Outcome Scale-Extended (GOSE); SWL: Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS).
Results: Of the 586 enrolled subjects, 298 had completed both outcome measures at 6-month follow-up; the correlation between GOSE and SWLS was 0.380. Patients with impaired-recovery (GOSE < 7)/impaired-satisfaction (SWLS < 20) were more likely to have mild TBI (83% vs 62%, P = .012), baseline depression (42% vs 15%, P < .0001), and 6-month depression (59% vs 21%, P < .0001) when compared with patients with impaired-recovery/good-satisfaction. Patients with good-recovery/impaired-satisfaction were more likely to have baseline depression (31% vs 13%, P < .0001) and 6-month depression (33% vs 6%, P < .0001) compared with good-recovery/good-satisfaction.
Conclusion: Correlation between SWL and functional outcome was not strong, and depression may modulate the association. Future research should account for functional, mental health, and patient-centered outcomes when assessing TBI recovery.