Headache- and Dizziness-Specific Health-Related Quality-of-Life Impairments Persist for 1 in 4 Amateur Athletes Who Are Cleared to Return to Sporting Activity Following Sport-Related Concussion: A Prospective Matched-Cohort Study

Abstract

To prospectively investigate the recovery of athlete-reported symptoms and the condition-specific health-related quality of life (HRQoL) following sport-related concussion. Prospective matched-cohort study. We recruited amateur athletes who were diagnosed with sport-related concussion by emergency department physicians. Study participants were assessed at 3 time points following sport-related concussion. At each assessment, participants completed 5 condition-specific HRQoL patient-reported outcome measures to evaluate participants' perceptions of the effects of specific concussion-related symptoms on their HRQoL. We performed log-linear analyses to assess the proportion of concussed participants with clinically impaired condition-specific HRQoL compared with the proportion of participants in the control group with clinically impaired condition-specific HRQoL. Fifty participants with sport-related concussion and 50 control participants matched by sex, age, and activity completed the study. Upon return to sporting activity, there was a significantly greater proportion of participants in the concussion group who perceived that headache, neck pain, and dizziness had an adverse effect on their HRQoL compared with the control group. Two weeks after return to sporting activity, there was still a significantly greater proportion of participants in the concussion group who perceived that headache (χ21 = 9.0; odds ratio [OR] = 4.4; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.5, 15.2; P = .003) and dizziness (χ21 = 9.5; OR = 13.5; 95% CI: 1.8, 604.9; P = .006) had an adverse effect on their HRQoL compared with the proportion of clinically impaired participants in the control group. Of concussed participants, 1 in 4 perceived that headache and dizziness had adverse effects on their HRQoL after returning to sporting activity following sport-related concussion compared with nonconcussed, control participants. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2020;50(12):692-701. doi:10.2519/jospt.2020.9485.