TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2014//
TI  - A systematic review of age and gender factors in prolonged post-concussion symptoms after mild head injury
JO  - Brain injury
A1  - King, Nigel S.
SP  - 1639
EP  - 1645
VL  - 28
IS  - 13-14
N2  - BACKGROUND: Older age and female gender are known factors in the development of persisting post-concussion symptoms (PCS) after mild head injury (MHI), i.e. at 3+ months. Very few studies have examined longer-term symptoms. A recent review, however, established the importance of these variables in permanent PCS (18+ months). The current study repeats the review for prolonged symptoms (12-18 months). <br><br>METHODS: Systematic electronic database searches were conducted to identify all studies with data on (i) correlations between age/gender and prolonged outcome and (ii) mean ages/gender mixes of (a) prolonged samples selected for poor symptomatic outcome, (b) prolonged samples not selected for poor outcome and (c) epidemiological studies of MHI patients presenting to hospital. <br><br>RESULTS: Correlation studies showed poorer outcome to be associated with both older age (2/5 studies) and female gender (5/6 studies). Those with poor prolonged outcome had a significantly higher mean age (35.9) than MHI patients in general (29.9). The proportion of men in these samples (48.6%) was significantly lower than MHI patients in general (66.7%). <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Older age and female gender are vulnerability factors in the development of prolonged PCS. The main clinical implications are for how early intervention and reassurance are best provided.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0269-9052
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/02699052.2014.954271
ID  - ref1
ER  -