The Prevalence of Traumatic Brain Injury and On-Campus Service Utilization Among Undergraduate Students.

OBJECTIVE: (1) To examine the prevalence of college-aged students on campus who had a history of concussion(s) or traumatic brain injury (TBI) and associated symptoms and (2) to evaluate the rate of campus service utilization among students who had a TBI.

SETTING: A representative sampling, randomly selected campus-wide e-mail was sent out with a Qualtrics online survey.

PARTICIPANTS: College-aged students (N = 466, n = 429) at a northeastern US university responded and consented to participate in the online survey.

DESIGN: Descriptive study using an online survey to evaluate the prevalence of TBI and subsequent utility of campus services.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The survey assessed concussion history and the diagnosing clinician, activity in which it occurred, level of consciousness, associated symptoms, and utilization of campus services for academic accommodation.

RESULTS: Prevalence of concussion/TBI in the study population (51.7%) is notably higher than previous reporting in adult and college populations (∼10%-25%). Campus disability and accommodative services were underutilized (10%-13%) and were accessed more readily by the female population. In addition, there were reportable increases in symptom prevalence and service utilization with a greater number of previous concussions.

CONCLUSIONS: Awareness and utilization of accommodative services, especially with a history of concussions, need to be improved in order to ensure academic and occupational success of students.