Prognostic factors for life expectancy after penetrating head injury
S. Corkin, E. V. Sullivan and F. A. Carr
Survival curves were made for 190 World War II veterans with penetrating
head injuries, and for 106 WW II veterans with peripheral nerve injuries
who matched the subjects with head injuries with respect to age at injury,
years of formal education, and preinjury intelligence-test score. The
results indicated that penetrating head injury coupled with posttraumatic
epilepsy shortened life expectancy in subjects who survived the early
postinjury period, but that head injury alone did not. Educational level
was also a significant variable independent of seizures: subjects with more
education survived longer than those with less education. Age at injury and
the difference between preinjury and postinjury intelligence-test scores
did not predict survival status.