Symptoms and Cognitive Dysfunction in Patients With the Late Whiplash Syndrome

Abstract

The aim of the study was to record the severity of symptoms in patients with the late whiplash syndrome and to assess how the symptom load affected the performance on a simple psychometric test. The Rivermead Post-Concussion Symptoms Questionnaire (RPQ) with an additional question on neck pain, modified RPQ (mRPQ), and the Short Test of Mental Status (STMS) were applied on 40 chronic whiplash patients. Symptoms reported by the whiplash group were compared to those of 50 normal controls. The patients scored significantly higher than the controls on all symptoms listed in the mRPQ. The most frequent symptoms reported by the whiplash group were neck pain, headache, "taking longer to think," forgetfulness, poor concentration, and fatigue. Total score of STMS was significantly lower (p = .0001) in the patients. There was a statistically significant association (p = .0001) between the total scores of mRPQ and STMS indicating that a high symptom load is associated with a poor performance on STMS. The study illustrates that various symptoms, in addition to neck and head pain, may have an impact on cognitive functions when evaluated by an easily administrated test like STMS.