Psychotic symptoms as manifestations of the posttraumatic confusional state: prevalence, risk factors, and association with outcome.

OBJECTIVES To (1) determine factors associated with psychotic-type symptoms in persons with moderate or severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) during early recovery and (2) investigate the prognostic significance of early psychotic-type symptoms for patient outcome. SETTING Acute neurorehabilitation inpatient unit. PARTICIPANTS A total of 168 persons with moderate or severe TBI were admitted for inpatient rehabilitation. Of these, 107 had psychotic-type symptoms on at least 1 examination. One-year productivity outcome was available for 87 of the 107 participants. DESIGN Prospective, inception cohort, observational study. MAIN MEASURES Confusion Assessment Protocol, productivity outcome at 1 year postinjury. RESULTS Presence of sleep disturbance, a shorter interval from admission to assessment, and greater cognitive impairment were associated with a greater incidence of psychotic-type symptoms. Younger age, more years of education, and lower frequency and severity of psychotic-type symptoms were associated with a greater likelihood of favorable productivity outcome. CONCLUSIONS We identified risk factors for the occurrence of psychotic-type symptoms and extended previous findings regarding the significance of these symptoms for outcome after TBI. These findings suggest that improved sleep in early TBI recovery may decrease the occurrence of psychotic-type symptoms.