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Meta-Analysis
. 2021 Jul;51(7):1491-1508.
doi: 10.1007/s40279-021-01444-7. Epub 2021 Mar 24.

The Influence of Timing of Reporting and Clinic Presentation on Concussion Recovery Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Mitchell Barnhart  1 , R Curtis Bay  2 , Tamara C Valovich McLeod  3   4   5
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

The Influence of Timing of Reporting and Clinic Presentation on Concussion Recovery Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Mitchell Barnhart et al. Sports Med. 2021 Jul.

Abstract

Background: Identifying risk factors for prolonged recovery following concussion can assist clinicians with appropriate management strategies. It is thought that athletes who continue to participate following a hit to the head or body may take longer to recover following a concussion diagnosis.

Objective: To systematically review the body of literature regarding the effect of delayed reporting and delayed presentation to medical providers on concussion recovery times.

Design: Systematic review with meta-analysis.

Data sources: PubMed, Ovid Medline, SPORTDiscus, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and hand searches of reference lists. All the searches were performed in April 2020.

Eligibility criteria for selected studies: Studies included an investigation of immediate versus delayed reporting or early versus late presentation following a concussion, were published in the past ten years, and were level 4 evidence or higher.

Results: 12 studies were included. Patients who continued play or delayed reporting their concussion had significantly longer recovery times (standardized mean difference = 0.36 days (95%CI 0.066, 0.662) than those who immediately reported or were removed from play (p = 0.017). Expressed in raw scores, those who immediately reported recovered in 5.4 days (95% CI - 10.14, - 0.75) fewer than delayed reporters. Comparable results were found for post-concussion symptom scores (p = 0.034) with immediate reporters demonstrating lower symptom severity scores. Our qualitative synthesis found patients who presented earlier to a concussion specialist tended to recover faster than those who presented later.

Conclusions: Patients who delayed reporting or continued play had longer recovery times compared to their immediately-reporting peers. Providers should ask concussion patients approximately how long they waited to report their injury, and also focus educational efforts on encouraging immediate reporting of concussion.

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References

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