THURSDAY, March 19, 2020 (HealthDay News) — Less than half of patients with sports-related mild traumatic brain injury (SR-mTBI) achieve clinical recovery within two weeks after injury, according to a study published in the March issue of the Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine.
Stephen Kara, M.B.Ch.B., from Axis Sports Medicine Specialists in Auckland, New Zealand, and colleagues analyzed clinical recovery time and factors impacting recovery after an SR-mTBI. The analysis included data for 594 patients (mean age, 20.2 years; 77 percent male) presenting to a concussion clinic within 14 days of an SR-mTBI/concussion during a two-year period.
The researchers found that 45 percent of participants showed clinical recovery within 14 days of injury, 77 percent by four weeks after injury, and 96 percent by eight weeks after injury. Between age groups (children ≤12 years, adolescents 13 to 18 years, and adults ≥19 years), there were no significant differences in recovery times. Females, participants with “concussion modifiers,” and those with increased time between injury and the initial appointment were more likely to experience a prolonged recovery.
“This study challenges current perceptions that most people with a SR-mTBI (concussion) recover within 10 to 14 days and that age is a determinant of recovery rate,” the authors write.
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