Fatores que influenciam o desempenho no WCST na população com traumatismo cranioencefálico

Abstract

Theoretical Background: Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) cause a variety of sores inbetween which, almost always present, are cognitive deficits. These deficits can manifestthemselves in different functions, being frequently found in executive functioning. One of thebest neuropsychological testes to evaluate executive functions is Wisconsin Card Sorting Test(WCST), as it forces the search of a correct way to answer and adaptation to the changingrequirements. There are factors that can influence the executive functioning after TBI. In thepresent work, we intend to study the relationship between age, years of schooling, type of injuryand severity of injury with executive performance.Method: The sample was collected from a clinical database, being consisted of 26participants, with ages, when the neuropsychological evaluation, between 18 and 69 years oldand years of schooling between 4 and 17. From the data base were selected subjects with thediagnosis of TBI that had completed the WCST in the neuropsychological evaluationperformed in the clinic.Results: A linear regression allowed the verification that the years of schooling canpredict the percentage of preservative responses in the WCST. The other studied factors – age,type of injury and severity of injury – did not reveal a significant relationship with theperformance on WCST.Discussion: The years of schooling seem to be a predictor of executive functioningafter TBI, namely with regards to perseveration, that is, cognitive inflexibility. Academic levelis revealed as a protector factor against the negative effects of TBI in executive functions. Agedoes not seem to have that influence. The type of injury – diffuse injury or focal injury – didnot reveal to be an influential factor in executive functioning after TBI, reenforcing the ideathat it could depend more of the injured areas rather than the type of injury. The severity of theinjury, measured by the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), didn’t reveal to be relevant to theperformance, which suggests questions as to if the use of GCS as the only source of predictionof the functionality after TBI is correct.

Date of Award	8 Apr 2021
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Norberto Pereira (Co-Supervisor) & Maria Vânia Silva Nunes (Supervisor)