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Table 2 Prevalence of post-concussion symptoms at second as- c h a n g e the s y m p t o m s were m o r e frequently rated as less
sessment, 7-10 days after injury (n = 41); "same score" means severe, with the e x c e p t i o n o f concentration, sensitivity to
scoring the same at both first and second assessment
noise and restlessness. A t 6 months after injury f e w e r than
Sympto- Im- Worse Same score h a l f o f all subjects reported at least one s y m p t o m . Be-
matic proved (2-4) (0-1) t w e e n the two a s s e s s m e n t s at 6 months, there was no bias
t o w a r d s i m p r o v e m e n t in those who rated s y m p t o m s dif-
Symptom
ferently.
Fatigue 21 12 2 14 13
Headaches 19 14 2 11 14
Sleep disturbance 17 9 2 9 21
Poor concentration 15 2 4 10 25 Discussion
Being irritable 14 4 3 4 30
Taking longer to think 13 6 3 6 26 T h e results d e m o n s t r a t e that the R P Q is reliable in rating
Forgetfulness 12 7 2 6 26 a total PCS score, w h e t h e r used as a s e l f - a d m i n i s t e r e d or
Feeling frustrated 11 8 4 5 24 as a c l i n i c i a n - a d m i n i s t e r e d measure, early or late after
Feelings of dizziness 11 3 3 7 28 h e a d injury. T h e y also d e m o n s t r a t e that i n d i v i d u a l s y m p -
Noise sensitivity 10 2 5 4 30 toms are rated in a reliable m a n n e r under both e x p e r i m e n -
Restlessness 10 1 6 4 30 tal conditions. T h e consistency o f i n d i v i d u a l s y m p t o m
Feeling depressed 9 8 3 5 25 ratings varied. This was m o s t e v i d e n t in the s e c o n d study
Light sensitivity 8 4 1 5 3l and m i g h t b e attributable to the d e l a y b e t w e e n assess-
Nausea 5 5 1 4 31 ments in the s e c o n d study. Alternatively, it is p o s s i b l e that
Blurred vision 5 3 0 4 34 the slightly h i g h e r m e d i a n P T A of subjects in study 2
Double vision 0 1 0 0 40 m e a n s that they had s o m e w h a t m o r e severe h e a d injuries
than those in study 1.
Table 3 Prevalence of post-concussion symptoms at second as- It is also p o s s i b l e that the contribution o f e n v i r o n m e n -
sessment, 6 months after injury (n = 46); "same score" means scor- tal stressors to P C S is greater 6 months after injury than at
ing the same at both first and second assessment
7 - 1 0 days [15]. Patients are likely to have returned to
Sympto- Im- Worse Same score w o r k and r e s u m e d other responsibilities within their fam-
matic proved (2-4) (0-1) ilies. In addition, further stressful life events m a y have oc-
curred, such as court p r o c e e d i n g s in relation to the injury,
Symptom
Fatigue 22 7 8 12 19 other accidents, illnesses or difficulties at h o m e or work.
Being irritable 19 4 10 6 26 The pattern o f s y m p t o m s supports this suggestion. Fa-
Feeling frustrated 17 8 7 6 25 tigue r e m a i n s the m o s t c o m m o n l y r e p o r t e d s y m p t o m , but
Forgetfulness 16 7 8 4 27 difficulties with headaches and sleep b e c o m e less c o m m o n
Poor concentration 15 5 5 6 29 a while irritability and frustration b e c o m e m o r e c o m m o n .
Taking longer to think 13 8 8 3 27 D i s t u r b a n c e s o f v i s i o n and n a u s e a r e m a i n less c o m m o n l y
Feeling depressed 13 3 8 4 31 r e p o r t e d s y m p t o m s , but their incidence decreased, sug-
Sleep disturbance 12 5 5 5 31 gesting that somatic complaints are less prevalent 6 months
Noise sensitivity 10 5 1 4 36 after injury.
Feelings of dizziness 10 3 3 6 34 It is interesting to note that s y m p t o m s with h i g h e r and
Restlessness 8 9 4 1 32 l o w e r correlation coefficients at 7 - 1 0 days after head in-
Headaches 8 3 2 4 37 j u r y are g e n e r a l l y those that have h i g h e r and l o w e r coeffi-
Light sensitivity 7 5 3 3 35 cients r e s p e c t i v e l y 6 m o n t h s after h e a d injury. T h e m o s t
Double vision 2 0 1 1 43 a r e l i a b l y rated PCS were headaches, dizziness, noise sensi-
Nausea 1 3 0 0 43 tivity, forgetfulness and p o o r concentration. These s y m p -
Blurred vision 0 5 0 0 40 a toms are p r o b a b l y the m o s t easily and u n a m b i g u o u s l y
identifiable b y patients, and/or are the m o s t consistently
a One missing value from the data
e x p e r i e n c e d s y m p t o m s over time. Conversely, the least
r e l i a b l y r e p o r t e d PCS in b o t h situations, such as feeling
frustrated, feeling depressed, taking l o n g e r to think and
are h o w m a n y subjects r e p o r t e d no s y m p t o m s at either restlessness, are p r o b a b l y those that are e x p e r i e n c e d in a
assessment (i.e., rated items as 0 or 1). Tables 2 and 3 show m o r e v a r i a b l e m a n n e r o v e r time, and/or are less easy to
fatigue as the m o s t p r e v a l e n t s y m p t o m b o t h early and late identify. F o r e x a m p l e , there m a y be a difficulty in distin-
after injury and visual disturbance and n a u s e a as the least guishing b e t w e e n feeling frustrated and feeling depressed.
prevalent. A t early f o l l o w - u p m o r e than h a l f o f all sub- T h e h i g h e r reliability of the total P C S score c o m p a r e d
jects r e p o r t e d at least one s y m p t o m . O v e r the 24 h be- with the v a r i a b i l i t y o f i n d i v i d u a l s y m p t o m scores m a y re-
t w e e n the assessments, in those patients w h o r e p o r t e d flect a c o n s t a n c y in the overall subjective e x p e r i e n c e o f
591
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