Objectives

To identify the consequences of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic for individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI), with particular attention to unique effects for individuals with chronic disability.

Design

Individuals with and without a history of TBI completed a web-based survey.

Setting

Participants were recruited from the Vanderbilt Brain Injury Patient Registry in Nashville, TN, and completed the survey from their homes between May and June 2020, during social distancing related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Participants

Participants (N=47) in the chronic phase of moderate-severe TBI (>6mo postinjury) and 51 noninjured comparison (NC) peers completed the survey.

Interventions

Not applicable.

Main Outcome Measures

Participants, or respondents, answered a mix of multiple choice and free text questions about how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected their work, education, medical care, social communication, sources of information and decision making, and mental and physical well-being. Individuals with TBI also answered questions about how TBI has affected their experiences of the pandemic.

Results

As a group, respondents with TBI reported less pandemic-related behavior change (eg, daily habits, virtual social visits, and masking) than NC peers. Both NCs and respondents with TBI identified health care providers as trusted sources of public health information. One-third of individuals with TBI indicated that brain injury has made coping with the pandemic more difficult, and respondents identified mental health challenges and social isolation as key barriers.

Conclusions

These results suggest that health care providers should look for ways to provide tailored education and reduce social isolation for individuals with disability during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. We discuss several direct suggestions from participant responses.

中文翻译：

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残疾和 COVID-19 大流行：对创伤性脑损伤患者的调查

目标

确定 2019 年冠状病毒 (COVID-19) 大流行对创伤性脑损伤 (TBI) 患者的影响，特别注意对慢性残疾患者的独特影响。

设计

有和没有 TBI 病史的个人完成了一项基于网络的调查。

环境

参与者是从田纳西州纳什维尔的范德比尔特脑损伤患者登记处招募的，并于 2020 年 5 月至 2020 年 6 月期间在与 COVID-19 大流行相关的社交距离期间在家中完成了调查。

参与者

中重度 TBI 慢性期（受伤后 >6 个月）的参与者（N=47）和 51 名未受伤的比较（NC）同行完成了调查。

干预措施

不适用。

主要观察指标

参与者或受访者回答了多项选择和自由文本的混合问题，这些问题涉及 COVID-19 大流行如何影响他们的工作、教育、医疗、社会交流、信息来源和决策制定，以及身心健康。TBI 患者还回答了有关 TBI 如何影响他们的大流行经历的问题。

结果

作为一个整体，与 NC 同龄人相比，患有 TBI 的受访者报告的与流行病相关的行为变化（例如，日常习惯、虚拟社交访问和掩饰）较少。NC 和患有 TBI 的受访者都将医疗保健提供者确定为可信赖的公共卫生信息来源。三分之一的 TBI 患者表示，脑损伤使应对大流行变得更加困难，受访者认为心理健康挑战和社会孤立是主要障碍。

结论

这些结果表明，在持续的 COVID-19 大流行期间，医疗保健提供者应寻找方法为残疾人提供量身定制的教育并减少社会孤立。我们讨论了来自参与者反应的几个直接建议。