Postconcussion Symptoms Are Common After Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Physical symptoms predominate early; emotional symptoms predominate late.

Postconcussion symptoms are common after mild traumatic brain injury, but their effect on clinical outcomes is not well understood. To evaluate course and outcomes, these authors prospectively evaluated 115 patients with mild traumatic brain injury (defined as initial Glasgow Coma Scale [GCS] scores of 14 or 15 and initial loss of consciousness of <30 minutes) at 1, 2, 4, and 8 weeks after injury, using the Checklist of Postconcussion Symptoms and the Glasgow Outcome Scale-Extended (GOSE). Patient scores were compared with those of 40 healthy controls.

Patients had a mean initial GCS score of 14.95. Twenty percent of patients had intracranial lesions. Postconcussion symptoms were prevalent at 1 and 2 weeks, including dizziness (in 74% and 45…

Reviewing Author

John A. Marx, MD, FAAEM, FACEP