One of the defining characteristics of<unk>  is the more continuous improvement and significantly more favorable outcomes post injury when compared with vegetative<unk> . One study looked at 100 patients with severe brain injury. At the beginning of the study, all the patients were unable to follow commands consistently or communicate reliably. These patients were diagnosed with either<unk>  or vegetative<unk>  based on performance on the JFK Coma Recovery Scale and the diagnostic criteria for<unk>  as recommended by the Aspen Consensus Conference Work-group. Both patient groups were further separated into those that suffered from traumatic brain injury and those that suffered from non-traumatic brain injures (anoxia, tumor, hydrocephalus, infection). The patients were assessed multiple times over a period of 12 months post injury using the Disability Rating Scale (DRS) which ranges from a score of 30=dead to 0=no disabilities. The results show that the DRS scores for the<unk>  subgroups showed the most improvement and predicted the most favorable outcomes 12 months post injury. Amongst those diagnosed with<unk> , DRS scores were significantly lower for those with non-traumatic brain injuries in comparison to the vegetative<unk>  patients with traumatic brain injury. DRS scores were also significantly lower for the<unk>  non-traumatic brain injury group compared to the<unk>  traumatic brain injury group. Pairwise comparisons showed that DRS scores were significantly higher for those that suffered from non-traumatic brain injuries than those with traumatic brain injuries. For the patients in vegetative<unk> s there were no significant differences between patients with non-traumatic brain injury and those with traumatic brain injuries. Out of the 100 patients studied, 3 patients fully recovered (had a DRS score of 0). These 3 patients were diagnosed with<unk>  and had suffered from traumatic brain injuries. In summary, those with<unk>  and non-traumatic brain injuries will not progress as well as those with traumatic brain injuries while those in vegetative<unk> s have an all around lower to minimal chance of recovery. Because of the major differences in prognosis described in this study, this makes it crucial that<unk>  be diagnosed correctly. Incorrectly diagnosing<unk>  as vegetative<unk>  may lead to serious repercussions related to clinical management.
Minimally conscious state
Excited delirium
Hypnoid state
Emergence delirium
Transient epileptic amnesia
Post-traumatic amnesia
Fatal insomnia
Drug-induced amnesia