Aggressive personality characteristics and it’s determinant factors in patients with traumatic brain injury

Background: Aggressive personality changes are one of the most prevalent neuropsychiatric disorders after traumatic brain injury (TBI). It may lead to serious impairments in social relations and affect rehabilitation process. Present research was performed to identify the determinant factors of personality change of aggressive characteristics after TBI.

Methods: 238 TBI patients (195 men and 43 women) were entered in a descriptive-longitudinal design study using nonprobability and consecutive sampling method. All subjects underwent neurosurgical examinations and psychological evaluations. After four months of follow-up, 65.1% (n=155) of patients referred to a psychiatrist to determine the personality change of aggressive type due to TBI using a structured clinical interview based on DSM-IV-TR diagnostic criteria.

Results: 61 patients (55 men & 6 women) with mean age of 34.0±15.9 years showed personality change of aggressive type during four-month follow-up. Results of logistic regression analysis for calculating the model odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) indicated that the falling level of compatibility (OR‏=‏‎1.03), subcranial injury (OR‏=‏‎0.45) and incidence of depressive disorders after TBI (OR‏=‏3.18) could independently predict the incidence of personality change of aggressive type in these patients.

Conclusion: The factors such as level of general compatibility, subcranial injury and incidence of depressive disorders after TBI are major determinants of personality change of aggressive characteristics. Regarding these factors, preventive and therapeutic interventions may reduce and modify the severity of this disruptive behavior.