Concussion significantly affects quality of life in young athletes

PHILADELPHIA—Young athletes who sustain concussions are likely to suffer deficits in health-related quality of life, but most experience significant improvement within 30 days, according to a study presented at the National Athletic Trainers Association 2010 Annual Meeting here. Tamara C. Valovich McLeod, PhD, ATC, of A. T. Still University, presented the findings.

Concussed athletes are known to perform poorer on immediate and delayed memory tasks 3 days after their injury. Additionally, concussed athletes have shown differing emotional responses vs. controls. Athletes with a previous history of concussion have demonstrated a lower health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and a greater impact of headache on HRQOL.

Headache- and fatigue-specific testing

McLeod and colleagues sought to determine how sports-related concussion affects general, headache- and fatigue-specific HRQOL. They administered the Pediatric Quality of Life (PedsQL) Inventory, the Headache Impact Test (HIT-6) and the PedsQL multidimensional fatigue scale to 44 adolescent athletes who sustained a sports-related concussion. Subjects completed the questionnaires at baseline, and 3, 10 and 30 days post-injury. The subjects’ average age was 15 years. The vast majority of injuries were sustained during football. A total of 26 patients had a history of concussion, while 11 did not, and seven did not report.

Overall, concussion resulted in a lower HRQOL in relation to physical functioning, sleep fatigue, cognitive fatigue and the impact of headache. The decrease in quality of life was associated with the time period when athletes were restricted from participating in physical and cognitive activities, McLeod noted. The deficits in HRQOL were generally improved by day 10, which roughly corresponded with most athletes being cleared to return to play. The improvements may reflect the beneficial effect of a period of cognitive and physical rest, McLeod said.

Full return

By day 30, all measures of quality of life tended to be significantly higher than baseline, which could be a product of most subjects’ full return to regular participation in sports, McLeod said.

Contextualizing her research, McLeod said most studies of concussion have typically focused on measures on impairment in symptoms, cognition and balance. Using quality of life measures may put increased focus on the importance of cognitive rest, she said.

For more information:

McLeod TCV. Bay RC. Lam CK. Snyder AR. Health-related quality of life following sports-related concussion in adolescent athletes. Presented during Health-related outcome measures at the National Athletic Trainers’ 2010 Annual Conference. June22-25. Philadelphia.

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