Concussion History and the Emotional and Behavioral Dyscontrol Domains of Health-Related Quality of Life in College Students

Abstract

Context Injury or illness can affect individual perceptions of health status and health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Concussion can result in different symptoms, impairments, and functional limitations that have been found to lower HRQOL. Furthermore, concussion is known to influence the emotional and behavioral dyscontrol domains of HRQOL in pediatric populations; however, this has yet to be explored in other populations. Objective To compare individuals with and those without a concussion history and (1) HRQOL and (2) the emotional and behavioral dyscontrol domains of HRQOL in college students. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting University laboratory setting. Patients or Other Participants Of a total of 252 participants (155 women; age = 19.95 ± 1.53 years), 76 (30.2%) had a history of concussion and 176 (69.8%) did not. For participants with a history of concussion, the mean time since injury was 5.29 ± 2.77 years. Main Outcome Measure(s) The Patient-Reported Outcome Measures Information System (PROMIS) Global Health, version 1.1, and Quality of Life in Neurological Disorders Emotional and Behavioral Dyscontrol Short Form (Neuro-QOL). Results No differences were seen between median scores in individuals with and those without a history of concussion in the PROMIS Physical Health (13.0 versus 14.0; P = .24), PROMIS Mental Health (12.0 versus 12.0; P = .99), and Neuro-QOL (16.0 versus 16.0; P = .47) scores. Additionally, when gender was controlled, the associations between a history of concussion and PROMIS Physical Health score (odds ratio [OR] = 1.04; 95% CI = 0.43, 2.52), PROMIS Mental Health score (OR = 0.66; 95% CI = 0.13, 3.25), and Neuro-QOL score (OR = 1.16; 95% CI = 0.66, 2.04) were not significant. Conclusions Preliminary findings suggested that the emotional and behavioral dyscontrol domains were not influenced by a concussion history of > 1 year in college-aged participants. Future researchers should continue to explore specific HRQOL domains affected by concussion as well as the influences of prior mental health conditions and behavioral dysfunction after a subsequent injury.