Day-to-day variability of post-concussion-like symptoms reported over time by a non-concussed cohort

作者：Balasundaram Arun Prasad^*; Athens Josie; Schneiders Anthony G; McCrory Paul; Sullivan S John

来源：Brain Injury, 2016, 30(13-14): 1599-1604.

DOI：10.1080/02699052.2016.1199902

• Total symptom score
• symptom severity score
• Sport Concussion Assessment Tool 2
• return-to-play

Primary objective: To explore the change (trend) in post-concussion-like symptoms reported over time.
Research design: Longitudinal study.
Methods and procedures: University students aged 18-30 years self-reported their symptoms experienced on a daily basis. Each participant was contacted via a text message each day during one of three pre-defined time zones to complete the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool 2 (SCAT2) post-concussion symptom scale on 7 consecutive days.
Main outcomes and results: One hundred and ten (26 males and 84 females) students completed the study on all 7 days. Only two meaningful clusters emerged and comprised of a total of 105 participants. The primary cluster included 85 participants who showed a relatively stable pattern in their symptoms reported over time. Meanwhile, a second cluster comprised of 20 participants who demonstrated a decreasing trend in the reported symptom scores.
Conclusions: The data indicated that non-concussed participants exhibited considerable individual variability in the symptom scores reported over time. However, some participants showed a systematic decreasing trend in their symptom scores reported over the 7 days. Caution must be exercised in interpreting the serial symptom scores that are obtained following a concussion, given that this study was conducted in a non-concussed cohort.

• 出版日期2016