Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation | 2021
Concussion Characteristics and Early Post-Injury Outcomes Between College Students and Intercollegiate Athletes.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE\nDescribe concussion characteristics among general college students and compare post-injury outcomes to intercollegiate student-athletes.\n\n\nDESIGN\nRetrospective cohort.\n\n\nSETTING\nLarge university in the Southeast region of the United States.\n\n\nPARTICIPANTS\n179 college students (female=120; 67.0%; 23.9±3.9 years) and 49 athletes (female=28, 57.1%;19.3±1.3 years) medical records were examined. Participants self-reported injury mechanism, health history information, and completed clinical assessments acutely (<7 days post-injury).\n\n\nMAIN OUTCOME MEASURES\nDescriptive statistics were calculated for each group. Concussion outcomes between students with and without certain health history diagnoses were assessed using separate t-tests. We conducted univariate regression analyses to determine if sex, age, and time from concussion to first clinical assessment were significant predictors of clinical outcomes. Statistically significant variables were included as covariates in a series of one-way ANCOVA s to identify differences in balance, symptom severity, total symptom presence, and neurocognitive domain performance between students and athletes. Fisher s exact tests were used to compare health history information between groups(α<0.05).\n\n\nRESULTS\nAmong students, 24% reported sustaining a concussion while participating in recreational sports and 27% of impacts occurred to the back of the head. Students had higher proportions of headache, migraine, anxiety, and depression(p<0.05). Students reported greater total symptom presence(p=0.006) and performed worse on the computerized neurocognitive test domain score for complex attention(p=0.015) relative to athletes.\n\n\nCONCLUSION\nThese findings highlight the need for better access to medical care for non-NCAA sanctioned athletes due to a large proportion of concussions in student sample being sustained during sports participation. Identifying common injury mechanisms can provide clinicians with powerful information to improve evaluation and treatment models.