• Brian P Rieger, Lawrence J Lewandowski, James M Callahan, Laura Spenceley, Adrea Truckenmiller, Rebecca Gathje, and Laura A Miller.
• Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA. riegerb@upstate.edu
• Brain Inj. 2013 Jan 1;27(2):169-78.

BackgroundThis study examined symptom reports and neurocognitive outcomes in children (8-17 years) with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) or orthopaedic injury (OI).MethodChildren and parents were initially assessed upon presentation in the Emergency Department of a local hospital and again at 3 months. Children completed the Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing battery (ImPACT) and parents completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF). The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, 3rd edition (PPVT-III) was completed by the children at the 3-month assessment.ResultsChildren with mTBI reported more symptoms than the OI group initially, but did not differ from the OI group at 3 months. Both groups reported a higher than expected number of symptoms at 3 months. On the ImPACT, children with mTBI performed significantly worse than the OI on a visual memory test at both assessments. The OI group had higher levels of parent-reported executive dysfunction on the BRIEF at initial and 3-month assessments.DiscussionAs expected, more post-concussion symptoms were initially reported by children and adolescents with mTBI vs orthopaedic injury, but there was no difference at 3 months. The BRIEF and ImPACT cognitive measures did not differentiate concussed subjects from controls, with the exception of concussed subjects' lower performance on a visual memory test at both initial assessment and at 3 months.

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