Severity and Employment Rate in Patients with Higher Brain Dysfunction / The Japanese Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine

ABSTRACT

We estimated the severity of higher brain dysfunction according to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare classification for 113 patients with higher brain dysfunction, and analyzed the correlation between severity and actual employment rate, based on neuropsychological findings and social behavioral disturbance. The actual job rate was similar to the theoretical one, which was determined by the Ministry's severity classification and was then correlated with the patient's neuropsychological findings (WAIS-R, RBMT, TMT-B and social cognition). In patients with a similar degree of severity, these neuropsychological findings did not affect their employment or unemployment. Our study demonstrated that the theoretical employment rate determined using the Ministry's classification was similar to the real one, and suggested that non-personal factors were responsible for the differences in employment rates in patients with the same severity of dysfunction.