The Association Among Clinical Profiles, Modifiers, and Prolonged Recovery in Adolescents With Sport-Related Concussion.

OBJECTIVE: The purposes were to (1) describe the prevalence of clinical profiles and modifiers, (2) examine the association between clinical profiles and prolonged recovery, and (3) examine the interaction between clinical profiles and modifiers and prolonged recovery in adolescents with sport-related concussion (SRC).

DESIGN: Retrospective, cross-sectional.

SETTING: Interdisciplinary specialty sports concussion clinic.

PATIENTS: Patients (n = 299) aged 12 to 19 years who were diagnosed with SRC within 30 days of injury.

INDEPENDENT VARIABLES: Clinical profiles and modifiers were decided by the clinical judgment of the clinical neuropsychologist and sports medicine physician, using data from the Clinical Profile Screen and information gathered from the clinical interview, neurocognitive, and vestibular and ocular motor testing.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Prolonged recovery was defined as ≥28 days from the date of injury to the date of clearance.

RESULTS: The most common clinical profiles were migraine (34.8%) and cognitive-fatigue (23.4%). There were no significant relationships between clinical profiles and prolonged recovery (Wald = 5.89, df = 4, P = 0.21). The presence of a modifier did not significantly affect the relationship between clinical profiles and prolonged recovery ( = 6.5, df = 5, P = 0.26). The presence of any modifier yielded a 10-day increase in median recovery time within the cognitive/fatigue clinical profile (Wilcoxon rank-sum = 268.5, P = 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS: Although patients with a clinical profile and modifier may not experience prolonged recovery, they may experience longer recovery time than patients with a clinical profile and no modifier.