TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2015//
TI  - Utility of the Military Acute Concussion Evaluation as a screening tool for mild traumatic brain injury in a civilian trauma population
JO  - Journal of trauma and acute care surgery
A1  - Stone, Melvin E.
A1  - Safadjou, Saman
A1  - Farber, Benjamin
A1  - Velazco, Nerissa
A1  - Man, Jianliang
A1  - Reddy, Srinivas H.
A1  - Todor, Roxanne
A1  - Teperman, Sheldon
SP  - 147
EP  - 151
VL  - 79
IS  - 1
N2  - BACKGROUND: Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) constitutes 75% of more than 1.5 million traumatic brain injuries annually. There exists no consensus on point-of-care screening for mTBI. The Military Acute Concussion Evaluation (MACE) is a quick and easy test used by the US Army to screen for mTBI; however, its utility in civilian trauma is unclear. It has two parts: a history section and the Standardized Assessment of Concussion (SAC) score (0-30) previously validated in sports injury. As a performance improvement project, our institution sought to evaluate the MACE as a concussion screening tool that could be used by housestaff in a general civilian trauma population. <br><br>METHODS: From June 2013 to May 2014, patients 18 years to 65 years old with suspected concussion were given the MACE within 72 hours of admission to our urban Level I trauma center. Patients with a positive head computed tomography were excluded. Demographic data and MACE scores were recorded in prospect. Concussion was defined as loss of consciousness and/or posttraumatic amnesia; concussed patients were compared with those nonconcussed. Sensitivity and specificity for each respective MACE score were used to plot a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. An ROC curve area of 0.8 was set as the benchmark for a good screening test to distinguish concussion from nonconcussion. <br><br>RESULTS: There were 84 concussions and 30 nonconcussed patients. Both groups were similar; however, the concussion group had a lower mean MACE score than the nonconcussed patients. Data analysis demonstrated the sensitivity and specificity of a range of MACE scores used to generate an ROC curve area of only 0.65. <br><br>CONCLUSION: The MACE showed a lower mean score for individuals with concussion, defined by loss of consciousness and/or posttraumatic amnesia. However, the ROC curve area of 0.65 highly suggests that MACE alone would be a poor screening test for mTBI in a general civilian trauma population. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Diagnostic study, level II.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 2163-0755
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/TA.0000000000000679
ID  - ref1
ER  -