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L D Costa

Publications and source records attributed to L D Costa.

15 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1986

Predictors and indicators of quality of life in patients with closed-head injury.

This study examined predictors and indicators of quality of life in 71 patients with closed-head injury (CHI), 2-4 years postinjury. Predictors included premorbid characteristics and acute injury-related data. Indicators included follow-up data, e.g., neuropsychological functioning. Exploratory canonical correlation analyses demonstrated that the combination of the predictor variable, initial Glasgow Coma Scale score, and indicator variables of neuropsychological data in the areas of motor functioning, memory, and constructional ability were related most strongly to quality of life as reported by the patients. Severity of head injury and motor disability also related strongly to quality of life, based on reports by relatives (n = 68) on the Katz Adjustment Scale (Relatives' Form). These findings suggest that quality of life is adversely affected by increased severity of head injury and greater residual motor deficits. Implications of these findings for treatment and recovery are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Quality of life in patients 2 to 4 years after closed head injury.

This study evaluated quality of life in 78 patients with closed head injury (CHI) 2 to 4 years postinjury. Using both interview data and mean data from the Sickness Impact Profile questionnaire, impaired quality of life was observed in the areas of psychosocial functioning, social role functioning, leisure activities, and, to a lesser extent, physical functioning, during chronic phases of recovery. Relatives and close friends reported by means of the Katz Adjustment Scale that the CHI patients showed a series of negative behavioral symptoms 2 to 4 years postinjury. These data suggest that CHI patients may experience impaired quality of life in a number of domains well beyond the acute postinjury phases. An attempt was also made to compare patients' and relatives' reports of patient quality of life. Preliminary analyses indicated modest correspondence between relatives' and patients' ratings of some areas of postinjury dysfunction, including cognitive and behavioral slowing and social withdrawal.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1976

Interset variability on the raven coloured progressive matrices as an indicator of specific ability deficit in brain-lesioned patients.

Patients with right cerebral lesions were found to have lower RCPM scores than a matched group of patients with left lesions. Analysis of interset patterns of performance demonstrated relatively greater difficulty for right lesion patients, especially those with posterior lesions on the Ab set. The findings were interpreted in terms of the abilities that Raven maintains underly test performance.

Brain Diseases↗
PubMed1975

The relation of visuospatial dysfunction to digit span performance in patients with cerebral lesions.

DSF and DSB performance was compared in hospitalized controls and right and left brain lesion groups dichotomized for the presence or absence of visuospatial deficits. Digit Span performance was also correlated with WAIS Similarities and Block Design and Raven Coloured Progressive Matrices. No differences between groups were observed on DSF. On DSB patients with brain lesions had lower scores than controls and brain-lesioned patients with visuospatial deficits had lower scores than those without. DSB correlated significantly with WAIS Block Design and Raven Coloured Progressive Matrices supporting the hypothesis that visuospatial ability is needed to mediate proper DSB performance. The correlation of DSB with WAIS Similarities, however, lends support to the idea that low DSB may merely reflect severity of cognitive deficit.

Aphasia↗