Post-concussion symptoms in mild traumatic brain injury: Findings from a pediatric outpatient clinic
by Dillard, C., Ditchman, N., Nersessova, K., Foster, N., Wehman, P., West, M., Neblett, J.
Dillard, C., Ditchman, N., Nersessova, K., Foster, N., Wehman, P., West, M. & Neblett, J. (2017). Post-concussion symptoms in mild traumatic brain injury: Findings from a pediatric outpatient clinic. Disability and Rehabilitation, 39(6), 544-550.
Purpose Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is common among children and is associated with a range of symptomatology and clinical presentations. This study uses data from a paediatric outpatient TBI clinic to (1) investigate characteristics associated with more severe post-concussive symptoms and (2) examine differences in the proportion of individuals endorsing specific post-concussion symptoms based on group (e.g., sex, type of injury, and psychiatric history). Methods Data from the Children’s Hospital of Richmond’s TBI outpatient programme were analysed (N = 157). Results Gender and sports injury were associated with severity of symptoms. In addition, females endorsed a greater number of overall symptoms than males. A number of specific symptoms were found to be endorsed to a greater extent based on psychiatric history and type of injury; however, overall total number of symptoms endorsed did not differ based on these characteristics. Conclusions Findings from this study provide further evidence that mTBI affects a wide range of youth and that associated symptomatology can indeed be varied. Moreover, results revealed differences in endorsement of specific symptoms and symptom severity based on patient and injury characteristics which have implications for concussion assessment and treatment.
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3109/09638288.2016.1152602?af=R