Sustained outcomes following mild traumatic brain injury: results of a five-emergency department longitudinal study.
OBJECTIVE
To report on the occurrence of sustained outcomes including post-concussion symptoms, health services used and indicators of social disruption following a mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI).


METHODS
A dual cohort comparing MTBI Emergency Department (ED) patients and a comparison group of non-head injured ED patients.


METHODS
The outcomes measures employed were the Rivermead Post-Concussion Symptoms Questionnaire (RPQ) and indicators of health services used and social disruption all recorded at the ED and at 3 and 6 months post-ED discharge. 'Sustained' meant a positive response to these measures at 3 and 6 months.


RESULTS
Reasonable follow-up success was achieved at 3 and 6 months and the cohorts were alike on all demographic descriptors. RPQ average score and symptom occurrence were far more frequent among MTBI patients than for the comparison cohort from 3 to 6 months. The use of health services and indicators of social disruption were also more frequent among MTBI post-discharge patients.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings argue that some with an MTBI suffer real complaints and they are sustained from 3 to at least 6 months. More effort should be given toward specificity of these symptoms from those reported by members of the comparison group.
Department of Epidemiology, UCLA , San Marcos, CA , USA .
Jess F
JF
Kraus
Paul
P
Hsu
Kathryn
K
Schafer
A A
AA
Afifi
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001924:Brain Concussion / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006295:Health Resources / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008306:Malingering / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010351:Patient Discharge / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D063868:Patient Outcome Assessment; D038223:Post-Concussion Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012008:Recurrence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
Cohort study; Rivermead Post-Concussion Symptoms Questionnaire; comparison cohort; emergency department; inverse probability weighting; outcomes; persistent symptoms; post-concussion