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Persistent cognitive deficits after whiplash injury: a comparative study with mild traumatic brain injury patients and healthy volunteers

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Abstract

In this study, we evaluated persistent cognitive deficits in whiplash injury (WI) patients and compared these to cognitive functioning in mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) patients and healthy controls (HC). Sixty-one patients suffering from a WI were compared with 57 patients suffering from a MTBI and with 30 HC. They were examined with an extensive neuropsychological test battery assessing attention, memory, and visuospatial and executive functions. In both patient groups, participants showed persistent cognitive symptoms (more than 6 months post-injury). The two patient groups did not differ significantly with regard to measurements of attention, memory, and visuospatial and executive functions. The WI group, as compared to the HC group, was found to be significantly more deficient in speed of performance during sustained and divided attention, focused attention, alternating attention, the storage of new auditory-verbal unrelated information into memory, the long-term delayed recall of stored auditory-verbal related information from memory, abstract reasoning and accuracy of performance during planning and problem solving. No differences could be found between both groups concerning speed of information processing, visuospatial abilities and verbal fluency.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Epilepsy and Acquired Brain Injury (CEPOS), Rooienberg 21, 2570, Duffel, Belgium

    Kurt Beeckmans, Patrick Vancoillie & Henri Hauman

  2. Department of Biological Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Free University Brussels, Pleinlaan 2, 1050, Brussels, Belgium

    Kurt Beeckmans

  3. Toxicological Center, Antwerp University, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610, Wilrijk, Belgium

    Cleo Crunelle

  4. Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Brussels, Laarbeeklaan 101, 1090, Brussels, Belgium

    Cleo Crunelle

  5. Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Free University Brussels, Pleinlaan 2, 1050, Brussels, Belgium

    Silke Van Ingelgom

  6. Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University Hospital Louvain, Weligerveld 1, 3212, Pellenberg, Belgium

    Karla Michiels

  7. Department of Clinical and Lifespan Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Free University Brussels, Pleinlaan 2, 1050, Brussels, Belgium

    Eva Dierckx

  8. Collaborative Antwerp Psychiatric Research Institute (CAPRI), Antwerp University, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610, Wilrijk, Belgium

    Bernard Sabbe

Authors
  1. Kurt Beeckmans
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  2. Cleo Crunelle
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  3. Silke Van Ingelgom
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  7. Henri Hauman
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  8. Bernard Sabbe
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Correspondence to Kurt Beeckmans.

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The authors declare they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

For this study, approval was obtained from the ethical committee of the General Hospital (Duffel, Belgium).

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Written informed consent was obtained from all participants.

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Beeckmans, K., Crunelle, C., Van Ingelgom, S. et al. Persistent cognitive deficits after whiplash injury: a comparative study with mild traumatic brain injury patients and healthy volunteers. Acta Neurol Belg 117, 493–500 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13760-017-0745-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13760-017-0745-3

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