Alteraciones de la empatía y su relación con la conducta en pacientes con traumatismo encéfalo craneano:: Una revisión sistematizada

The aim of this article was to examine the relation between empathy and behavior impairments in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Methodology: We performed a systematic review of the available literature until February 2018, using several databases. We searched for original articles that assessed empathy and/or behavior in adult patients with TBI. Results: The literature search yielded 1731 articles, only 19 of which were included in this review. All studies, except one, reported a decrease in empathic response and behavior impairments in patients with TBI. Only two articles examined the relation between both deficits directly, showing that impairments in empathic response were associated with impairments in social behavior. Conclusion: Even though empathy and behavior impairments are widely described in TBI population, the amount of studies that examine the relation between the two are few. This exposes the need to widen the research on this topic to know more precisely to which extent empathy deficits impact upon patient’s daily life.