The role of pre-morbid personality in predicting rehabilitative outcome in people with acquired brain injury: a systematic review

Abstract

Pre-morbid personality is often reported to be a significant factor in accounting for patients’ outcome following Acquired Brain Injury (ABI). The purpose of the present systematic literature review was to examine the impact of pre-morbid personality on outcomes in people who have sustained an ABI. The Cochrane Register, Web of Science, MEDLINE, PUBMED, PsycINFO, Science Direct and EMBASE were systematically searched using specified keywords. Additionally, key journals were searched and reference lists of included studies were examined to identify further studies that might meet inclusion criteria. Moreover, a number of eminent international scholars who have published work in this area were contacted to help identify the possible existence of ‘difficult to source’ studies or papers in press. The systematic review identified 1098 peer-reviewed published papers (1990–2010). The sequential application of specified exclusion criteria subsequently reduced this number to four. All four studies were American an...