LAUSR

This study seeks to examine whether personal psychiatric history (PPH) and/or family psychiatric history (FPH) are related to prolonged concussion recovery and increased post-concussive symptoms (PCs) in concussed children and adolescents. We hypothesized that individuals with PPH/FPH would endorse a greater number of and more severe PCs relative to those with concussion only or concussion with either PPH or FPH. Data from 255 concussed 8 to 18-year-olds (median = 15.50 years, range = 10.25 years) were retrospectively examined from a clinical database excluding patients with confounding medical comorbidities. PCs (i.e., total symptom count and severity [frequency, intensity, and duration of symptoms]) were compared among four groups (concussion only [n = 80], concussion + PPH [n = 14], concussion + FPH [n = 125], and concussion + PPH/FPH [n = 36]) using a multivariate Kruskal-Wallis test and post-hoc Mann-Whitney U tests. The omnibus analysis indicated group differences for injury interval (p = 0.05) and PCs severity (p = 0.002). Post-hoc analyses indicated patients with concussion + PPH/FPH reported greater PCs severity than those with concussion only (U = 726.00, p = 0.0001, r = 0.36) and those with concussion + FPH (U = 1203.00, p = 0.003, r = 0.23). Injury interval was greater for patients with concussion + FPH than those with concussion alone (U = 3474.50, p = 0.007, r = 0.19). Other group differences were non-significant. All groups reported a similar number of PCs. FPH contributes to severity of symptoms when combined with PPH. PPH alone did not significantly affect PCs severity. Findings suggest that providers should screen for both PPH and FPH at the time of concussion diagnosis. Early identification of risk factors may lead to targeted intervention, therefore reducing persistent PCs.