A - 44 A Comparison of Multi-Domain Clinical Assessment Outcomes in Older Adults Following Concussion

Abstract

To examine differences in demographics, medical history, injury characteristics, and multidomain clinical assessment outcomes between different age groups of older adults following concussion. This prospective study included participants aged 50+ years with a diagnosed concussion (<12 months) who presented to a specialty concussion clinic. Participants completed a clinical intake/interview (e.g., demographics) and a multidomain clinical assessment comprising symptoms (Clinical Profile Screen [CP-Screen]), cognitive (Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status [RBANS]), psychological health (Patient Health Questionnaire-9 [PHQ-9], Generalized Anxiety Disoder-7 [GAD-7]), vestibular/ocular (Vestibular/Ocular Motor Screen [VOMS]), and quality of life (Neurological Quality of Life [Neuro-QoL]) at an initial visit. Older adults aged 50–59 and 60+ years were compared using independent samples t-tests, X2 tests, and analyses of covariance. 76 participants (M = 59.6¬ ± 6.3 years, 55.3% female) were included, 41 (53.9%) aged 50–59 and 35 (46.1%) aged 60+ years. The 50–59-year group had a greater proportion of females (68.3% vs. 40.0%, p = 0.01) and a history of anxiety (39.0% vs. 17.1%, p = 0.036). The 50–59-year group had worse Neuro-QoL (F[1, 72] = 5.1, p = 0.03, ηp2 = 0.10), RBANS recall (F[1, 72] = 7.1, p < 0.01, ηp2 = 0.09), RBANS fluency (F[1, 72] = 5.0, p = 0.03, ηp2 = 0.06), and RBANS list recognition (F[1, 72] = 4.1, p = 0.04, ηp2 = 0.06), controlling for sex and history of anxiety. This study demonstrated that adults aged 50–59 years were more likely to be female and have a history of anxiety compared to adults 60+ years. Interestingly, older adults 50–59 years demonstrated greater perceived difficulties in their cognitive abilities post-concussion, which was reflected in impairments on cognitive testing compared to adults 60+ years.