Citation

McMahon PJ, Hricik AJ, Yue JK, Puccio AM, Inoue T, Lingsma H, Beers SR, Gordon W, Valadka A, Manley GT, Okonkwo DO. J. Neurotrauma 2014; 31(1): 26-33.

Affiliation

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Neurosurgery, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States ; mcmahonpj@upmc.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Mary Ann Liebert Publishers)

DOI

10.1089/neu.2013.2984

PMID

23952719

Abstract

Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI), or concussion, is a major public health concern. There is controversy in the literature regarding the true incidence of post-concussion syndrome (PCS), with the constellation of physical, cognitive, emotional and sleep symptoms after mTBI. In the current study, we report the incidence and evolution of PCS symptoms and patient outcomes following mTBI at 3, 6 and 12 months in a large prospective cohort of mTBI patients. Participants were identified as part of the prospective multicenter Transforming Research and Clinical Knowledge in Traumatic Brain Injury (TRACK-TBI) Study. Study population was mTBI patients (Glasgow Coma Scale score of 13-15) presenting to the Emergency Department, including patients with a negative head CT discharged to home without admission to hospital; 375 mTBI subjects were included in the analysis. At both 6 and 12 months after mTBI, 82% (n=250/305; n=163/199 respectively) of patients reported at least one PCS symptom. Further, 44.5% and 40.3% of patients had significantly reduced satisfaction with life scores at 6 and 12 months respectively. At 3 months after injury, 33% of the mTBI subjects were functionally impaired (Glasgow Outcome Scale Extended score ≤6); 22.4% of the mTBI subjects available for follow up were still below full functional status at one year following injury. The term "mild" continues to be a misnomer for this patient population and underscores the critical need for evolving classification strategies for TBI for targeted therapy.

Language: en