Citation

Mayer A, McQuaid JR, Wick TV, Dodd AB, Robertson-Benta C, Stephenson D, van der Horn HJ, Quinn D, Davis WA, Hittson AK, Sapien R, Phillips J, Campbell R. J. Neurotrauma 2023; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Mary Ann Liebert Publishers)

DOI

10.1089/neu.2023.0072

PMID

37725586

Abstract

Pediatric mild traumatic brain injury (pmTBI) has received increased public attention over the past decade, especially for children who experience persistent post-concussive symptoms (PCS). Common methods for obtaining pediatric PCS rely on both self- and parental report, exhibit moderate test-retest reliability, variable child-parent agreement and may yield high false positives. The current study investigated the impact of age and biological sex on PCS reporting (Post-Concussion Symptom Inventory) in patients with pmTBI (N=286) at retrospective, one week, four months and one-year post-injury time-points, as well as in healthy controls (HC; N=218) at equivalent assessment times. Healthy controls (HC) and their parents reported higher PCS retrospectively relative to three other study visits. Child-parent agreement was highest for female adolescents, but only approached acceptable ranges (≥0.75) immediately post-injury. Poor-to-fair child/parental agreement was observed for most other study visits for pmTBI and at all visits for HC. Parents rated female adolescents as being more symptomatic than their male counterparts in spite of small (pmTBI) or no (HC) sex-related differences in self-reported ratings, suggestive of a potential cultural bias in parental ratings. Test-retest reliability for self-report was typically below acceptable ranges for both pmTBI and HC groups, with reliability decreasing for HC and increasing for pmTBI as a function of time between visits. Parental test-retest reliability was higher for females. Although continued research is needed, current results support the use of child self-report over parental ratings for estimating PCS burden.

RESULTS also highlight the perils of relying on symptom self-report for diagnostic and prognostic purposes.

Language: en

Keywords

HUMAN STUDIES; AGE; GENDER; HEAD TRAUMA; PEDIATRIC BRAIN INJURY