Neurobehavioral Symptoms in Spanish-Speaking Individuals With Subconcussive Injuries

Abstract

Objective: To examine whether exposure to high-risk events causing injury to the head or neck has an effect on neurobehavioral symptoms in the absence of an alteration of consciousness in Spanish-speakers. Setting: Web-based survey. Participants: Seven hundred forty-eight individuals from Spain and Latin America, aged 18 to 65 years, with 10 years or more of education. Thirty-nine participants failed quality checks and were excluded. Seven hundred nine participants were included in the analyses. Design: Cross-sectional study. Subconcussive exposure was defined as endorsing exposure to one or more high-risk scenarios in the absence of any alteration of consciousness. Three injury groups were derived: No Head Injury, Subconcussive Exposure, and traumatic brain injury (TBI). The Subconcussive Exposure group was further divided into Single and Multiple Exposures. Two analyses were conducted: the effect of lifetime exposure to injury (No Head Injury, Subconcussive Exposure, TBI) on neurobehavioral symptoms; the effect of Subconcussive Exposure Frequency (No Head Injury, Single Exposure, Multiple Exposures) on neurobehavioral symptoms. Main Measures: Spanish Ohio State University Traumatic Brain Injury Identification Method Self-Administered-Brief (OSU TBI-ID SAB); Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory (NSI). Results: There was a significant effect for Injury group on the NSI partial eta-squared (ηp 2 = 0.053) and a significant effect of Exposure Frequency group on the NSI (ηp 2 = 0.40). Individuals with subconcussive exposures reported significantly more neurobehavioral symptoms than those with no history of head injury and significantly less symptoms than those with TBI. Individuals with multiple subconcussive exposures reported significantly more neurobehavioral symptoms than those with single and no exposure. Conclusion: This research expands the utility of the OSU-TBI-ID SAB as a lifetime TBI history assessment tool to one capable of evaluating subconcussive exposure dosing effects in Spanish-speakers. Such an index may facilitate establishment of subconcussive exposure prevalence rates worldwide, leading to improved understanding of the chronic effects of high-risk exposures.