The Impact of Drug Use on the Length of Hospitalization, Impaired Consciousness and Levels of Motor and Cognitive Independence in Patients with Traumatic Brain Injury

This study aimed to examine the effect of drug use on the length of hospitalization, impaired consciousness, levels of motor and cognitive independence in patients with traumatic brain injury.
A total of 185 patients with traumatic brain injury in the emergency, neurosurgery ward and ICU of Poursina Hospital was selected via purposive sampling. These participants who were within the age group 37.46 ± 17.42 years were divided into two groups, i.e. drug users (n = 35) and non-users (n = 150). Then, Demographic and Hospital Inventory and Functional Independence Measure were used for data collection purposes.
The results showed that the two groups of patients with or without drug use were significantly different from each other in terms of length of hospitalization in neurosurgery ward, total duration of hospital stay, and rates of cognitive independence (P .05). The results also showed that drug using patients experience higher states of impaired consciousness compared to the other group (P This study indicated the effect of drug use on the increased length of hospitalization, the intensification of impaired consciousness, and disturbance of cognitive independence in traumatic brain injury patients. The clinical implications of this study are discussed.