Examining Whether Onfield Motor Incoordination Is Associated With Worse Performance on the SCAT5 and Slower Clinical Recovery Following Concussion.

To examine the relationship between video-identified onfield motor incoordination, the acute assessment of concussion, and recovery time during three seasons of National Rugby League (NRL) play. Blows to the head ("head impact events") were recorded by sideline video operators and medical staff. Any player with a suspected concussion underwent a Head Injury Assessment in which he was taken off the field and medically evaluated, including the administration of the Sports Concussion Assessment Tool, 5th Edition (SCAT5).

Examining Criteria for Defining Persistent Post-concussion Symptoms in Children and Adolescents.

Researchers operationalize persistent post-concussion symptoms in children and adolescents using varied definitions. Many pre-existing conditions, personal characteristics, and current health issues can affect symptom endorsement rates in the absence of, or in combination with, a recent concussion, and the use of varied definitions can lead to differences in conclusions about persistent symptoms and recovery across studies. This study examined how endorsement rates varied by 14 different operational definitions of persistent post-concussion symptoms for uninjured boys and girls with and without pre-existing or current health problems.

Children with ADHD Have a Greater Lifetime History of Concussion: Results from the ABCD Study.

This case-control study using baseline data from the population cohort Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study compared lifetime history of concussion between children with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). We hypothesized that children with ADHD would have a greater lifetime history of concussion than children without ADHD. Children were recruited from schools across the United States, sampled to provide strong generalizability to the US population.

Systematic Review of Preinjury Mental Health Problems as a Vulnerability Factor for Worse Outcome After Sport-Related Concussion.

Background: It is difficult to predict who will experience prolonged health problems after sustaining a sport-related concussion.

Purpose: To synthesize the literature and conduct a gap analysis on the association between preinjury mental health problems and clinical outcome from sport-related concussion.

Study Design: Systematic review; Level of evidence, 4.

Baseline preseason ImPACT testing in Mandarin with adolescent student-athletes in the United States.

Researchers have examined differences on ImPACT in baseline symptom reporting and neurocognitive performances based on the language of administration and racial/ethnic identity. This is the first study to examine differences between student-athletes tested in Mandarin versus English on ImPACT during preseason baseline assessments conducted in high schools in the United States. Participants included 252 adolescent student-athletes who completed ImPACT testing in the state of Maine in Mandarin and 252 participants who completed testing in English, matched on age, gender, and health and academic history.

Examining the repeatable battery for the assessment of neuropsychological status validity indices in people with schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

We examined the frequency of possible invalid test scores on the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders, and whether there was an association between scores on the embedded RBANS performance validity tests (PVTs) and self-reported symptoms of apathy as measured by the Initiate Scale of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Adult Version (BRIEF-A). Participants included 250 patients ( = 24.4 years-old,  = 5.

Participation in pre-injury level sport one-year following sport-related concussion: A prospective, matched cohort study.

Objectives: To estimate the times taken to receive clearance to return to sporting activity and to return to pre-injury level of sport competition following sport-related concussion, and to estimate the proportion of athletes who were participating at their pre-injury level of sport competition six months and one-year following sport-related concussion.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Methods: Amateur, adult athletes (16-38 years old) were diagnosed with sport-related concussion at a university-affiliated hospital emergency department.

Normative Reference Values, Reliability, and Item-Level Symptom Endorsement for the PROMIS® v2.0 Cognitive Function-Short Forms 4a, 6a and 8a.

Objective: Reliable, valid, and precise measures of perceived cognitive functioning are useful in clinical practice and research. We present normative data, internal consistency statistics, item-level symptom endorsement, and the base rates of symptoms endorsed for the PROMIS® v2.0 Cognitive Function-Short Forms.

A Live Video Mind-Body Treatment to Prevent Persistent Symptoms Following Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: Protocol for a Mixed Methods Study.

Background: Every year, approximately 42 million people sustain a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI, also known as concussion), with particularly high rates among college-aged individuals. A substantial proportion of these people (44%-64%) develop persistent symptoms that are challenging to treat, costly, and associated with significant disability. Anxiety has emerged as a risk factor for progression from acute to persistent mTBI symptoms.

Neuropsychological Assessment and Screening in Heart Failure: a Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review.

A variety of neuropsychological changes secondary to heart failure have been documented in the literature. However, what remains unclear are which neuropsychological abilities are the most impacted by heart failure and what tests have the sensitivity to measure that impact. Eight databases were searched for articles that examined the neuropsychological functioning of patients with heart failure.

Factors Associated with Symptom Reporting in U.S. Service Academy Cadets and NCAA Student Athletes without Concussion: Findings from the CARE Consortium.

Background: Symptom resolution is a key marker in determining fitness for return to activity following concussion, but in some cases, distinguishing persistent symptoms due to concussion versus symptoms related to other factors can be challenging.

Objective: To determine base rates of postconcussional syndrome (PCS) diagnostic categorization in healthy cadets and student athletes with no recent concussion.

Methods: 13,009 cadets and 21,006 student athletes completed baseline preseason testing.

The structure of post-concussion symptoms in adolescent student athletes: Confirmatory factor analysis and measurement invariance.

This study examined factor models for the Post-Concussion Symptom Scale (PCSS) at baseline and after suspected sport-related concussion, and measurement invariance from pre-injury to post-injury assessments and across age, gender, and health history groups (e.g., attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, psychiatric history).

Preseason Baseline Neurocognitive Performances and Symptom Reporting on Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing: A Comparison of Adolescent Student-Athletes Tested in Spanish and English.

Context: Student-athletes are commonly administered the Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT) battery at preseason baseline and postconcussion. The ImPACT is available in many languages, but few researchers have examined differences in cognitive performances and symptom ratings based on the language of administration.

Objective: To examine differences in ImPACT neurocognitive composites and symptom reporting at preseason baseline testing between student-athletes who completed ImPACT in Spanish versus English.

Examining Test-Retest Reliability and Reliable Change for Cognition Endpoints for the CENTER-TBI Neuropsychological Test Battery.

Seven candidate cognition composite scores have been developed and evaluated as part of a research program designed to validate a cognition endpoint for traumatic brain injury (TBI) research and clinical trials, but these composites have yet to be examined longitudinally. This study examined test-retest reliability and methods for determining reliable change for these seven candidate composite scores, using the neuropsychological test battery from the Collaborative European NeuroTrauma Effectiveness Research in Traumatic Brain Injury (CENTER-TBI). Participants (18-59 years-old) with mild TBI ( = 124), orthopedic trauma without head injury ( = 67), and healthy community controls ( = 63) from the Trondheim MTBI follow-up study completed the CENTER-TBI neuropsychological test battery at 2 weeks and 3 months after injury.

Complicated versus uncomplicated mild traumatic brain injuries: A comparison of psychological, cognitive, and post-concussion symptom outcomes.

Introduction: A complicated mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) is defined as mild by all clinical severity indicators but is complicated due to a traumatic intracranial abnormality visible on neuroimaging. Researchers have reported mixed findings regarding whether neuropsychological and functional outcomes following complicated MTBI are worse than, or similar to, outcomes following uncomplicated MTBI. This study examined patients referred from a Taiwanese emergency department to a neurosurgical outpatient clinic.

Personal Factors Associated With Postconcussion Symptoms 3 Months After Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.

Objective: To describe personal factors in patients with mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) and 2 control groups and to explore how such factors were associated with postconcussion symptoms (PCSs).

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: Level 1 trauma center and outpatient clinic.

Age of First Exposure to Football Is Not Associated with Midlife Brain Health Problems.

The purpose of this study was to determine if earlier age of first exposure (AFE) to football is associated with worse brain health in middle-aged men who played high school football. We assessed 123 men 35-55 years of age, who played high school football, using (1) a survey of demographic information as well as medical, sport participation, and concussion history; (2) the Patient Health Questionnaire-8 (PHQ-8); and (3) the British Columbia Post-Concussion Symptom Inventory (BC-PSI). Sixty-two (50.

Conducting Prolonged Exposure for PTSD During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Considerations for Treatment.

The unprecedented effects and duration of the COVID-19 crisis are likely to elevate the population's level of anxiety due to psychological stress, economic hardship, and social isolation. This effect may be especially potent for individuals with preexisting mental health conditions, such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Prolonged Exposure (PE) therapy is a highly effective treatment for PTSD across trauma-exposed populations, and has been implemented effectively via telehealth.

Comparing Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP) in Serum and Plasma Following Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in Older Adults.

Identification and validation of blood-based biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is of critical importance. There have been calls for more research on mTBI in older adults. We compared blood-based protein marker glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) concentrations in serum and in plasma within the same cohort of older adults and assessed their ability to discriminate between individuals based on intracranial abnormalities and functional outcome following mTBI.

Expert Panel Survey to Update the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine Definition of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.

Objective: As part of an initiative led by the Brain Injury Special Interest Group Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Task Force of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM) to update the 1993 ACRM definition of mild TBI, the present study aimed to characterize current expert opinion on diagnostic considerations.

Design: Cross-sectional web-based survey.

Setting: Not applicable.

Brief iPad-Based Assessment of Cognitive Functioning with ImPACT® Quick Test: Prevalence of Low Scores Using Multivariate Base Rates.

Objective: The ImPACT® Quick Test is a brief iPad-based battery of neurocognitive tests that has been standardized on a sample of children, adolescents, and adults (ages 12-70). This study provides information on the prevalence of ImPACT® Quick Test scores falling below specific percentiles in the normative sample to aid in clinical interpretation and reduce the risk of over-interpreting, or misinterpreting, a single low score.

Method: Participants were 683 individuals ranging in age from 12 to 70, who were assessed individually.

Multiple Past Concussions in High School Hockey Players: Examining Cognitive Functioning and Symptom Reporting.

Objective: To investigate (1) if there are meaningful differences in baseline preseason cognitive functioning or symptom reporting between high school ice hockey players with and without prior concussions and (2) determine which health history variables predict symptom reporting.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: High schools across the state of Maine.

Using a Likelihood Heuristic to Summarize Conflicting Literature on Predictors of Clinical Outcome Following Sport-Related Concussion.

Objective: To introduce a new methodology for summarizing the results from systematic reviews-a likelihood heuristic-to the field of sport-related concussion.

Data Sources: We applied the likelihood heuristic to the results of a systematic review published by Iverson et al (2017), containing 101 studies, on the predictors of worse clinical outcome following sport-related concussion.

Study Selection: We re-examined 5 individual prognostic factors that are of clinical interest and for which there is conflicting literature (female sex = 44 studies, prior concussion history = 41 studies, loss of consciousness = 31 studies, post-traumatic amnesia = 25 studies, and retrograde amnesia = 10 studies).

Estimated age of first exposure to American football and outcome from concussion.

Objective: To examine the association between estimated age at first exposure (eAFE) to American football and clinical measures throughout recovery following concussion.

Methods: Participants were recruited across 30 colleges and universities as part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-Department of Defense Concussion Assessment, Research and Education Consortium. There were 294 NCAA American football players (age 19 ± 1 years) evaluated 24-48 hours following concussion with valid baseline data and 327 (age 19 ± 1 years) evaluated at the time they were asymptomatic with valid baseline data.

A pilot study of a mind-body stress management program for student veterans.

Background: Student veterans are an at-risk population given the challenges of military experience, reintegration to civilian life, and attending college. Therefore, there is a need for innovative programs to support student veterans. The present study sought to determine the acceptability and effectiveness of a 10-week mind-body stress reduction intervention for student veterans, or Resilient Student Warrior.