Persistent Symptoms Associated with Factors Identified by the WHO Task Force on Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Abstract

The current study examined the role of factors identified by the World Health Organization's Task Force on Mild Traumatic Brain Injury as being associated with poor outcome after mild traumatic brain injury. Employing symptom severity ratings at 3 months post-injury greater than “mild,” subgroups of Higher-Severity (20%) and Lower-Severity (80%) participants were identified. Findings revealed that individuals who report greater symptom complaints at 3 months post-MTBI may be identifiable soon after injury on the basis of the magnitude and severity of early self-reported symptoms, pre-morbid psychological issues, and involvement in compensation-seeking. Injury severity factors did not differ between the groups.

Keywords:

• Adults
• Functional outcome
• Premorbid factors
• Symptom persistence
• TBI

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This project was supported by a Graduate Doctoral Scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to the first author.

Notes

MTBI: Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, HS-MTBI: High Severity MTBI group, LS-MTBI: Low Severity MTBI group.

^a Welch's t was used in instances of unequal group variances.

^b Phi was used to calculate effect sizes for binary variables

^c Cohen's d was used to calculate effect sizes for comparisons on continuous variables.

Data related to loss of consciousness was available on only a subset of participants: 88% and 59% of the LS- and HS-MTBI groups, respectively.

PCL: Problem Checklist.

MTBI: Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, HS-MTBI: High Severity MTBI group, LS-MTBI: Low Severity MTBI group.

MTBI: Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, HS-MTBI: High Severity MTBI group, LS-MTBI: Low Severity MTBI group.

^a All differences represent higher endorsement by the HS-MTBI group.

^b Represents a higher percentage of endorsement by the control group.

MTBI: Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, HS-MTBI: High Severity MTBI group, LS-MTBI: Low Severity MTBI group.

^a All differences represent higher severity ratings by the HS-MTBI group.

^b Represents higher severity ratings by the control group.

MTBI: Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, HS-MTBI: High Severity MTBI group, LS-MTBI: Low Severity MTBI group, WHO: World Health Organization.

^a Welch's t was used in instances of unequal group variances.

*Indicates a significant difference between the HS-MTBI and LS-MTBI groups.