Measuring sustained attention after traumatic brain injury: Differences in key findings from the sustained attention to response task (SART)

Clinical reports after traumatic brain injury (TBI) suggest frequent difficulties with sustained attention, but their objective measurement has proved difficult. In 1997, Robertson and colleagues reported on a new sustained attention assessment tool, the sustained attention to response task (SART). Individuals with TBI were reported to produce more errors of commission on the SART than control participants, and both groups showed a relationship between SART errors and everyday lapses of attention as measured by the cognitive failures questionnaire (CFQ). Although few direct replications of these findings have been reported, the SART has been used widely as a measure of sustained attention in TBI, in normal controls, and in various other clinical samples. As part of a program of research on attention in TBI, we administered the SART and the CFQ to a sample of 34 survivors of moderate to severe TBI and to 35 control participants. CFQ scores reported by significant others showed clear group differences in everyday lapses of attention. Despite this, group differences in SART errors of commission were small and non-significant, and the correlations between SART errors and CFQ scores were small within both groups. Further analyses excluding participants with invalid score profiles, or restricting the analysis to the first performance of the SART failed to alter the results. These findings suggest that more research is needed to establish the validity of the SART as a measure of sustained attention after TBI, and to determine under what circumstances the original findings hold

Lower health-related quality of life predicts all-cause hospitalization among HIV-infected individuals

Abstract Background Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is a patient-centered outcome measure used in assessing the individual’s overall functional health status but studies looking at HRQOL as a predictive tool are few. This work examines whether summary scores of HRQOL are predictive of all-cause hospitalization in the US Military HIV Natural History Study (NHS) cohort. Methods The Short Form 36 (SF-36) was administered between 2006 and 2010 to 1711 NHS cohort members whose hospitalization records we had also obtained. Physical component summary scores (PCSS) and mental component summary scores (MCSS) were computed based on standard algorithms. Terciles of PCSS and MCSS were generated with the upper terciles (higher HRQOL) as referent groups. Proportional hazards multivariate regression models were used to estimate the hazard of hospitalization for PCSS and MCSS separately (models 1 and 2, respectively) and combined (model 3). Results The hazard ratios (HR) of hospitalization were respectively 2.12 times (95% CI: 1.59–2.84) and 1.59 times (95% CI: 1.19–2.14) higher for the lower and middle terciles compared to the upper PCSS tercile. The HR of hospitalization was 1.33 times (95% CI: 1.02–1.73) higher for the lower compared to the upper MCSS tercile. Other predictors of hospitalization were CD4 count  50 copies/mL (HR = 1.82, 95% CI: 1.46, 2.26), and yearly increment in duration of HIV infection (HR = 0.94, 95% CI: 0.93, 0.96) (model 3). Conclusion After controlling for factors associated with hospitalization among those with HIV, both PCSS and MCSS were predictive of all-cause hospitalization in the NHS cohort. HRQOL assessment using the SF-36 may be useful in stratifying hospitalization risk among HIV-infected populations

Unadjusted and adjusted MCS scores for HAART with PI-HAART as the referent category.

<p>Unadjusted and adjusted MCS scores for HAART with PI-HAART as the referent category.</p

Unadjusted and adjusted MCS scores for HAART with PI-HAART as the referent category.

<p>Unadjusted and adjusted MCS scores for HAART with PI-HAART as the referent category.</p