Post-concussion syndrome among patients experiencing head injury attending emergency department of Hawassa University Comprehensive specialized hospital, Hawassa, southern Ethiopia

Abstract

IntroductionPost-concussion syndrome (PCS) is defined as the presence of 3 or more of the following signs and symptoms after experiencing head injury such as headache, dizziness, fatigue, irritability, insomnia, difficulty of concentration or memory difficulty. In Ethiopia, even though there was no research conducted on post-concussion syndrome, it is common health problems after experiencing head trauma that affect the productive age group, which directly or indirectly influences the development of the country.ObjectiveTo assess the prevalence and determinants of post-concussion syndrome among patients experiencing head injury attending emergency department of Hawassa University Comprehensive Specialized hospital, Hawassa, Southern Ethiopia.MethodsInstitution based cross sectional study was conducted from November 1, 2017 to March 30, 2018, in Hawassa University Comprehensive Specialized Hospital emergency department, Hawassa, Southern Ethiopia.ResultA total of 275 cases were interviewed during data collection period with response rate of 95.2%. More than half (55.7%) of patients were within age range of 25–34 and Majorities (55.6%) of patients were married. About two-fifths of study participants (41.5%) had at least three symptoms of post-concussion syndrome components. Headache and restlessness were the most symptoms occurring in varying severity while double vision and fatigue were less severe among others. Occupation, cause of injury and location of injury were significant determinants of post-concussion syndrome.ConclusionAbout 41.5% of study participants had at least three symptoms of PCS. Occupation, cause of injury and location of injury were significantly associated with the occurrence of PCS.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s10194-018-0945-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Post-Concussion Syndrome and Factors Associated With Post- Concussion Syndrome Following Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

“…Socio-demographic characteristic such as age and sex were not significantly associated with PCS following MTBI. This present study is in line with other previous studies conducted in Ethiopia and America (9,15) . This finding indicated that there was no effect on PCS symptoms of some demographic data from the subjects.…”

“…This current study showed that headache and being irritable symptoms are the most common dangerous symptoms that patients need to be cautious because it has been the main leading causes of patients into the severity following MTBI. This study is consistent with a study conducted in Hawassa city Ethiopia (9) . The most frequently occurring symptoms of PCS following MTBI were headache, being irritable, and forgetfulness.…”

“…A complication of MTBI is a significant issue for patients with post-MTBI. Bedaso stated that 41.5% of MTBI cases experienced PCS with at least 3 symptoms after a head injury such as headache, restlessness, fatigue, and double vision (9) . Some previous studies found that 82% of patients with MTBI after 3-12 months experienced at least one of PCS, 40.3% decreased life satisfaction, 33% had functional impairment for 3 months after injury, and only 22.4% were still not fully functional condition post-injury 1 year (10) .…”

Management of Traumatic Brain Injury: From Present to Future

“…Secondary injury starts from this primary injury and emerges hours, days, or months later, involves various events such as oxidative stress, modified calcium homeostasis, inflammation, and axonal damage, terminating in cellular degeneration, disturbed neural circuits, and impaired synaptic transmission and synaptic plasticity [6]. Behaviorally, these alterations manifest as post traumatic headache, depression, individuality changes, anxiety, aggression, and deficits in attentiveness, cognition, sensory processing, and communication [7][8][9].…”

Position Paper on Post-Traumatic Headache: The Relationship Between Head Trauma, Stress Disorder, and Migraine

“…Thankfully, 80% of TBIs are mild and leave subjects with minor or no cerebral damage. Nonetheless, the consequences of mild TBIs (mTBI) are often characterized by a broad array of somatosensory and cognitive symptoms, called post-traumatic syndrome, which tend to be overlooked by the public as a whole, despite causing vast medical and socioeconomic problems worldwide [3,4], hence the term ''silent public health epidemic''.…”