"Good-old-days" bias: a prospective follow-up study to examine the preinjury supernormal status in patients with mild traumatic brain injury.
OBJECTIVE
Postconcussion symptoms (PCS) are common following mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). A psychological misperception, the "good-old-days" bias, has been indicated as one of the influencing factors on symptom reporting after injury. To date, this response bias has only been examined in a small number of cross-sectional studies. This study thus prospectively evaluated the "good-old-days" bias in patients with mTBI.


METHODS
A prospective follow-up study.


METHODS
Fifty-three patients with mTBI were recruited in this study. The PCS was evaluated by the modified Checklist of Postconcussion Symptoms (mCPCS) at 1 month post injury. Twenty-five patients were evaluated again at 3 months after injuries. In addition, 53 healthy participants were also evaluated for the PCS, and 23 of them underwent a second evaluation at 2 months after the first one.


RESULTS
Patients with mTBI showed significantly higher PCS reporting at 1 month post injury than healthy participants did, but not at 3 months post injury. Consistent with the "good-old-days" bias, patients remarkably underestimated their preinjury PCS at 1 month post injury. Interestingly, our results further revealed that this response bias diminished more at 3 months than at 1 month after mTBI.


CONCLUSIONS
This study thus might be the first one to prospectively reveal the progression of the "good-old-days" bias in patients with mTBI.
a Division of Clinical Psychology, Master of Behavioral Sciences, College of Medicine , Chang-Gung University , Taoyuan , Taiwan.
Chi-Cheng
CC
Yang
Kit-Man
KM
Yuen
Sheng-Jean
SJ
Huang
Sheng-Huang
SH
Hsiao
Yi-Hsin
YH
Tsai
Wei-Chi
WC
Lin
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D038223:Post-Concussion Syndrome / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult
Good-old-days bias; Mild traumatic brain injury; Postconcussion symptoms