Race/ethnicity, sex, and age differences in pediatric SCAT-5 concussion symptoms

ObjectiveTo examine sociodemographic differences in concussion symptom reporting, among young children by race/ethnicity, sex, and age at initial presentation to guide potential interventions for children from different backgrounds.MethodParticipants were elementary-age children (ages 5 to 12 years; n = 392) who sustained a concussion within 30 days of specialty concussion clinic visit. Independent variables were self-defined race/ethnic group, participants' sex, and age. Dependent variables were number and severity of 22 post-concussion symptoms as measured by the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool5 (R) (SCAT-5) Symptom Evaluation.ResultsAnalyses of variance (ANOVAs) showed no differences in reporting of symptoms across race/ethnic or age groups. There was no interaction between race/ethnic, sex and age groups. Females in this sample reported a greater number and severity of concussion symptoms than males.ConclusionsConcussion symptom endorsement on the SCAT-5 Symptom Evaluation did not appear to be affected by race/ethnicity or age. However, consistent with existing literature, females reported higher endorsement of concussion symptoms than males and therefore may merit special consideration in evaluation of symptoms. Future research should examine the intersection of other sociodemographic variables with race/ethnicity and should consider the influence of respondent (child vs. parent) in studies of this age cohort.