title: Assessing the Clinical Utility of the Question, "Is Your Child/Are You Back to Normal?" in Pediatric Concussion Symptom Resolution.
abstract: This study investigates the relationship between the general question, "Is your child/are you back to normal?" and a validated postconcussive symptom scale when assessing symptom resolution following concussion. Children with acute concussion were enrolled during an emergency department visit. Sensitivity and specificity analyses compared the true/false question, "My child is/I am back to normal" at 3 days postinjury with the Concussion Symptom Inventory (CSI; gold standard). A total of 201 participants were enrolled in the study with complete data. The true/false questions of "My child is/I am back to normal" had sensitivities of 78.4% and 59.3% and specificities of 75.0% and 86.4% for caregiver and child responses, respectively, when compared with their corresponding CSI. This study demonstrates that asking a parent or child if the child is back to normal has poor sensitivity and modest specificity in determining if a child's symptoms have resolved within 3 days of sustaining a concussion relative to a standardized symptom scale.
authors.affiliation: 1 Colorado School of Public Health, Aurora, CO, USA.|2 University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA.
authors.forename: Brandi L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Vollmer
authors.affiliation: 2 University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA.|3 Children's Hospital Colorado, Aurora, CO, USA.
authors.forename: Michael W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Kirkwood
authors.affiliation: 1 Colorado School of Public Health, Aurora, CO, USA.|2 University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA.
authors.forename: R Dawn
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Comstock
authors.affiliation: 1 Colorado School of Public Health, Aurora, CO, USA.
authors.forename: Dustin
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Currie
authors.affiliation: 2 University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA.|3 Children's Hospital Colorado, Aurora, CO, USA.
authors.forename: Joseph A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Grubenhoff
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D001924:Brain Concussion / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy; D017028:Caregivers; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D015600:Glasgow Coma Scale; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000379:methods*; D038223:Post-Concussion Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D020127:Recovery of Function / Q000502:physiology*; D012016:Reference Values; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: children; concussion; emergency department; mild traumatic brain injury; postconcussive syndrome