Correlation between frontal lobe injury severity caused by traumatic brain injury and mental disorders with early prognosis

doi:10.5498/wjp.v16.i6.116354

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World Journal of Psychiatry

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2220-3206

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Baishideng Publishing Group Inc, 7041 Koll Center Parkway, Suite 160, Pleasanton, CA 94566, USA

Retrospective Study

Copyright: ©Author(s) 2026. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. No commercial re-use. See permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.

World J Psychiatry. Jun 19, 2026; 16(6): 116354
Published online Jun 19, 2026. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v16.i6.116354

Correlation between frontal lobe injury severity caused by traumatic brain injury and mental disorders with early prognosis

Teng-Fei Ma, Qian Song, Gao-Wei Duan, Jiang Bai

Jiang Bai, Gao-Wei Duan, Department of Neurosurgery, Heping Hospital Affiliated to Changzhi Medical College, Changzhi 046000, Shanxi Province, China

Qian Song, Department of Clinical Psychology, Heping Hospital Affiliated to Changzhi Medical College, Changzhi 046000, Shanxi Province, China

Teng-Fei Ma, Department of Neurosurgery, Qianhai Life Insurance Shaoguan Hospital, Shaoguan 512000, Guangdong Province, China

Author contributions: Bai J was responsible for conceptualization, methodology, investigation, and writing (original draft); Duan GW contributed to data curation, formal analysis, and visualization; Song Q contributed to supervision, methodology, and writing (review and editing); Ma TF participated in validation, resources, and project administration; all authors critically reviewed and provided final approval of the manuscript and all authors were responsible for the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board of Heping Hospital Affiliated to Changzhi Medical College.

Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardians, provided written informed consent for the collection of personal and medical data prior to study enrollment.

Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest related to this article.

Data sharing statement: The data used in this study can be obtained from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Corresponding author: Teng-Fei Ma, Department of Neurosurgery, Qianhai Life Insurance Shaoguan Hospital, No. 15 Danxia Avenue Middle, Wujiang District, Shaoguan 512000, Guangdong Province, China. mati187@163.com

Received: December 2, 2025
Revised: January 4, 2026
Accepted: January 30, 2026
Published online: June 19, 2026
Processing time: 176 Days and 23.5 Hours

Abstract

BACKGROUND

Mental disorders often follow traumatic brain injury, significantly affecting quality of life and social functioning. Damage to the frontal lobe, which is a critical structure that governs cognitive and emotional processes, may be correlated with the severity of the injury, the incidence of mental disorders, and the early clinical prognosis.

AIM

To examine the association between the severity of frontal lobe injury and the incidence and prognostic outcomes of mental disorders.

METHODS

A total of 218 patients with frontal lobe injuries were enrolled in the study retrospectively from Heping Hospital Affiliated to Changzhi Medical College. The severity of each injury was determined using both imaging findings and Glasgow Coma Scale scores. The primary outcome was the incidence of mental disorders at the three-month follow-up. The secondary outcome was functional recovery, which was evaluated using the Glasgow Outcome Scale six months after injury. Logistic regression analysis was employed to examine the association between frontal lobe injury severity and clinical outcomes.

RESULTS

Mental disorders were present in 50.9% (111/218) of patients. Mental disorder incidence rose with injury severity: Mild 38%, moderate 59%, severe 74%. Depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and cognitive dysfunction occurred in 32%, 35%, 25%, and 28% of patients, respectively, with 45% exhibiting comorbid disorders. After adjusting for confounders, patients with moderate and severe frontal lobe injury demonstrated 3.454-fold (95%CI: 1.650-7.231) and 8.034-fold (95%CI: 3.017-21.390) higher risks of mental disorders and 3.334-fold (95%CI: 1.256-8.853) and 14.626-fold (95%CI: 4.600-46.504) higher risks of poor prognosis, respectively. Subgroup analysis showed stable associations across age and sex (P value for interaction > 0.05), and prognosis worsened stepwise from mild, moderate, to severe injury (29.7% vs 61.9% vs 10.7%, P value for trend < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Frontal lobe injury severity demonstrates a significant positive correlation with both the risk of mental disorders and poor prognosis.

Keywords: Traumatic brain injury; Frontal lobe injury; Mental disorder; Prognosis; Correlation; Glasgow Coma Scale

Core Tip: This study identified a significant association between frontal lobe injury severity and the risk of mental disorders and early prognosis. The increasing severity of frontal lobe injury was progressively associated with elevated risks of mental disorders and poor prognosis. This relationship was observed consistently across various population subgroups, which provides strong evidence for the early clinical identification of high-risk patients.