*3.1. Demographic and Clinical Characteristics*

Thirty-two TBI patients and 23 healthy controls were included in the present study, with the demographic and clinical parameters shown in Table 1. Overall, 31.25% of patients had moderate–severe and 68.75% mild TBI. Average time since injury was 8.47 months. There were no significant differences between the TBI group and healthy controls in terms of gender (*p* = 0.949), age (*p* = 0.422) or education years (*p* = 0.756). Relative to healthy controls, TBI patients had lower level of MMSE scores. Moreover, they performed worse on memory function tests and presented more anxiety and depressive symptoms.

**Table 1.** The demographic and clinical characteristics in TBI patients and healthy controls.


TBI: traumatic brain injury; GCS: Glasgow coma scale; MMSE: mini mental state examination; HADS: hospital anxiety and depression scale; NA: not applicable.

#### *3.2. Reduced GM Volumes in Patients with Traumatic Brain Injury*

As shown in Figure 1A, focal lesions were mainly present in bilateral orbitofrontal and temporal cortical regions. Compared to healthy controls, TBI patients underwent widespread decrease of GM volume in the bilateral frontal and temporal gyrus, left cingulate gyrus, and right insular lobe, particularly in the right orbitofrontal, left inferior, and middle temporal lobe, and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (Figure 1B, Table 2). In subcortical regions, decreased GM volumes were observed in the bilateral amygdala, right hippocampus, left nucleus accumbens, and bilateral rostral temporal thalamus.

198


**Table 2.** Brain regions with statistical difference between TBI patients and healthy controls.
