Epidemiology and Symptom Resolution in Pediatric Patients Seen in a Multidisciplinary Concussion Clinic

Describe epidemiology of pediatric patients with concussion and relationship of injury characteristics and demographic variables to symptom resolution.

Outpatient hospital system multidisciplinary concussion clinic.

N = 1653, 6- to 18-year-old patients with concussion.

Retrospective of patients with concussion seen between 2013 and 2019. Rivermead post-concussion symptom questionnaire was completed at each visit. Demographics and injury characteristics were extracted, and income tertiles were calculated by zip code.

Descriptive statistics. Multivariate analysis of variance and Cox regression analysis of demographic variables and injury characteristics with time to symptom resolution.

Patients were 44.5% (n = 735) female, 53.5% (n = 885) male, and 2% (n = 33) other/not available. About 376 (22.7%) patients were 6 to 12 years old, 1277 (77.3%) were 13 to 18 years old. Median family income tertiles were <$63 798 (n = 494 [29.9%]), $63 798 to $82 171 (n = 571 [34.5%]), and >$82 171 (n = 545 [33%]). Time to presentation was longer for female patients ( P < .0005), patients with non-sports-related concussions ( P < .0005), and patients in the lower family income group than the middle- ( P = .02) and high-income groups ( P = .003). Average symptom resolution was 41 days, with higher initial symptom scores (hazard ratio 0.97; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.97-0.98; P < .0005), female sex (hazard ratio 1.31; 95% CI, 0.1.18-1.47; P < .0005), older age (hazard ratio 1.17; 95% CI, 1.03-1.33; P = .015), and having a psychiatric diagnosis (hazard ratio 1.33; 95% CI, 1.15-1.54; P < .0005) predicting longer recovery time.

Pediatric patients presenting to a specialized multidisciplinary concussion clinic possess several similar predictors of protracted symptom recovery when examined against other cohorts described in the literature, including female sex, longer time to initial presentation and initial concussion symptom burden. In this study, children with non-sports-related concussion have different clinical courses than those with sports-related concussion, and children 6 to 12 years old recover more quickly than adolescents. These findings, in combination with existing literature and future prospective studies, can be used to counsel patients regarding expected resolution of concussion symptoms and help direct resources toward those patients at risk for protracted recovery.