TY - JOUR PY - 2016// TI - Day-to-day variability of post-concussion-like symptoms reported over time by a non-concussed cohort JO - Brain injury A1 - Balasundaram, Arun Prasad A1 - Athens, Josie A1 - Schneiders, Anthony G. A1 - McCrory, Paul A1 - Sullivan, S. John SP - 1599 EP - 1604 VL - 30 IS - 13-14 N2 - 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.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 0269-9052 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02699052.2016.1199902 ID - ref1 ER -