Incremental Effects of Subsequent Concussions on Cognitive Symptoms in the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool

This study examines symptoms associated with repeated concussions in young and otherwise healthy adults. Design: Cross sectional. Setting: Institutional study at a university setting. Participants: University students with a history of concussion. Independent Variables: Participants were grouped based on numbers of concussions. Main Outcome Measures: The impact of incremental concussion on symptom clusters in Sport Concussion Assessment Tools 5 and Spearman ranking correlation coefficients between symptom clusters. Results: One hundred thirty-five participants reported having had 1 concussion, 63 reported 2 concussions, 50 reported 3 concussions, and 43 reported 4 to 6 concussions. Total severity scores over the range of concussion number (1, 2, 3, and greater than 3) did not show a clear incremental effect. However, average scores of cognitive symptoms rose with each subsequent concussion (P ≤ 0.05). The largest incremental effect observed was that of second concussions on emotional symptom scores (t = 5.85, P
Source: Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine - Category: Sports Medicine Tags: Original Research Source Type: research