Diagnostic terminology is not associated with contact-sport players’ expectations of outcome from mild traumatic brain injury

Abstract

Primary objective: To investigate the influence of the diagnostic terms ‘concussion’ and ‘mild traumatic brain injury’ (mTBI) on contact-sport players’ injury perceptions and expected symptoms from a sport-related mTBI. It was hypothesized that contact-sport players would hold more negative injury perceptions and expect greater symptom disturbance from a sport-related injury that was diagnosed as an ‘mTBI’ compared to ‘concussion’ or an undiagnosed injury.

Methods and procedures: One hundred and twenty-two contact-sport players were randomly allocated to one of three conditions in which they read a sport-related mTBI vignette that varied only according to whether the person depicted in the vignette was diagnosed with concussion (n = 40), mTBI (n = 41) or received no diagnosis (control condition; n = 41). After reading the vignette, participants rated their injury perceptions (perceived undesirability, chronicity and consequences) and expectations of post-concussion syndrome (PCS) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms 6 months post-injury.

Main outcomes: There were no significant differences in contact-sport players’ injury perceptions or symptom expectations from a sport-related mTBI when it was diagnosed as an mTBI, concussion or when no diagnosis was given.

Conclusions: Diagnostic terminology does not appear to have a potent influence on symptom expectation and injury perceptions in contact-sport players.

• Concussion
• outcome
• sport
• post-concussion symptoms

Acknowledgements

The Human Research Ethics Committee of Queensland University of Technology (QUT-HREC #1200000150) approved this research. This project was granted an occupational workplace health and safety clearance.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Notes

† One participant had missing data for this question.

‡ Participants’ symptom expectations and injury perceptions did not differ depending on whether they personally knew someone who had sustained an mTBI (n = 61) or not (n = 61): NSI total score, U = 1629, p = 0.236; PCL-C total score, U = 1695, p = 0.397; IPQ-R Timeline sub-scale, U = 1795.5, p = 0.738; IPQ-R Consequences sub-scale, U = 1859.5, p = 0.996; Undesirability, U = 1705.5, p = 0.408.