A cross-sectional cohort study of post-concussive symptoms and their relationships with depressive symptoms in youth with and without concussion

ABSTRACT

Objectives

To evaluate the frequency and severity of post-concussive symptoms in youth with a history of concussion relative to youth without concussion who had another medical diagnosis, as well as compare the correlations between post-concussive and depressive symptoms between groups. We hypothesized comparable symptom reporting and correlations in each group.

Methods

A total of 564 youth ages 8–18 years were assessed regarding post-concussive symptoms. A subset of youth (n = 360) were compared on correlations between post-concussive and depressive symptoms. Non-parametric statistics were used for most analyses.

Results

Youth with concussion reported a comparable number of post-concussive and depressive symptoms as youth with another medical condition without concussion. However, those with concussion reported greater post-concussive symptom severity (but small effect sizes). Relationships between post-concussive and depressive symptoms were comparable for both groups, but for those who sustained a concussion, the correlation was significantly stronger for females than males.

Conclusions

This study further demonstrates that post-concussive symptoms are nonspecific and provide little functional utility. Post-concussive and depressive symptoms are strongly correlated, particularly in females with concussion. Psychiatric comorbidities and other medical diagnoses should be assessed pre-injury because both affect interpretation of post-concussive symptom reports.

KEYWORDS:

• Concussion
• post-concussive
• nonspecific
• depression

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).