Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jul 1;32(4):400-407.
doi: 10.1097/JSM.0000000000000959. Epub 2021 Aug 2.

Factor Structure for the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool Symptom Scale in Adolescents After Concussion

Bara Alsalaheen  1 , Yuanzhi Li, Andrea Almeida, James Eckner, Jeremiah Freeman, Michael Popovich, Nicholas Streicher, Xuming He, Matthew Lorincz
Affiliations

Factor Structure for the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool Symptom Scale in Adolescents After Concussion

Bara Alsalaheen et al. Clin J Sport Med. .

Abstract

Objective: To examine the factor structure of the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool-5 (SCAT5) symptom scale in adolescents on their initial presentation to a concussion clinic within the typical recovery period after concussion (ie, <30 days). We hypothesize that the SCAT5 symptoms represent various clinically meaningful groups. A secondary purpose was to examine the effects of sex on the factor structure of the SCAT5 symptom scale.

Study design: Retrospective cross-sectional analysis.

Setting: Tertiary, institutional.

Patients: Nine hundred eighty-one adolescents (45% women) aged between 13 and 18 years.

Independent variables: Adolescents completed the SCAT5 symptom scale.

Main outcome measures: The factor structure of SCAT5 examined using a principal axis factor analysis.

Results: A 5-factor structure model explained 61% of the variance in symptoms. These 5 factors are identified as Energy (17%), Mental Health (13%), Migrainous (13%), Cognitive (9%), and Vestibulo-Ocular (9%). A similar 5-factor model emerged for each sex, and the proportion of variance in symptoms explained by the 5-factor model was comparable between the sexes.

Conclusions: The findings of this report indicate that the SCAT5 symptoms aggregated into 5 delineated factors, and these factors were largely consistent across the sexes. The delineation of symptoms into 5 factors provides preliminary validation for the presence of different concussion phenotypes. Confirmatory factor analysis is warranted to examine the applicability and clinical utility of the use of the 5-factor structure in a clinical setting.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

References

    1. CDC. Report to Congress on Traumatic Brain Injury in the United States: Epidemiology and Rehabilitation. Atlanta, GA: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control; Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention; 2015.
    1. DePadilla L, Miller G, Jones SE, et al. Self-reported concussions from playing a sport or being physically active among high school students—United States, 2017. MMWR. 2018;67:682–685.
    1. Davis GA, Anderson V, Babl FE, et al. What is the difference in concussion management in children as compared with adults? A systematic review. Br J Sports Med. 2017;51:949–957.
    1. Zemek RL, Farion KJ, Sampson M, et al. Prognosticators of persistent symptoms following pediatric concussion: a systematic review. JAMA Pediatr. 2013;167:259–265.
    1. Iverson GL, Gardner AJ, Terry DP, et al. Predictors of clinical recovery from concussion: a systematic review. Br J Sports Med. 2017;51:941–948.