Depression After Traumatic Brain Injury: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Publisher Pubmed



Dehbozorgi M¹ ; Maghsoudi MR² ; Rajai S³ ; Mohammadi I³ ; Nejad AR⁴ ; Rafiei MA³ ; Soltani S³ ; Shafiee A⁵ ; Bakhtiyari M⁶
Source: American Journal of Emergency Medicine Published:2024

Abstract

Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) afflicts 69 million individuals annually, resulting in numerous neuropsychiatric sequelae. Here, we investigate the possible relation between TBI and depression. Methods: an online database search of Pubmed, Scopus, and Web of Science was conducted on November 3rd, 2023 for observational studies investigating post-TBI depressive symptoms incidence or comparing the prevalence of depressive symptoms between TBI and non-TBI individuals. Results: a total of 43 studies were included in our review, 15 of which reported novel cases of depressive symptomology post-TBI and 34 of which compared depressive symptoms in TBI participants with non-TBI participants. Our meta-analysis showed an incidence of 13 % among 724,842 TBI participants, and a relative risk of 2.10 when comparing 106,083 TBI patients to 323,666 non-TBI controls. 11 of the 43 included studies were deemed as having a high risk of bias. Sensitivity analysis showed our findings to be robust and no publication bias was detected using Egger's regression test. Conclusion: Individuals suffering from TBI are almost twice as likely to develop depressive symptomology compared to non-TBI individuals. © 2024 Elsevier Inc.