Recovery from the post-concussional syndrome: A preliminary study comparing young and middle-aged adults

For most people the post-concussional syndrome (PCS) is time contingent, and typically resolves within three months of the trauma. A subgroup of people, however, are at risk for protracted sequelae. One risk factor is old age. This study tests the hypothesis that middle-aged (rather than old) people take longer to recover to premorbid levels on neuropsychological tests and subjective complaints of PCS symptoms following a mild head injury than young adults. Two groups of nine participants aged from 16 to 26 years (Young group) and 40 to 56 years (Middle-aged group) who had suffered a PCS at least four months previously were compared with two age-matched control groups, and a student control, group. A two-way between subjects ANOVA on the raw test scores demonstrated that independently of head injury, middle-aged participants did more poorly than young participants on tests of memory, and head-injured participants (independently of age), did more poorly than non-head-injured participants on tests of reaction time and psychomotor speed. The only age x head-injury interactions approaching significance (P < .05) were an a verbal memory test (Logical Memory) and the Trail-Making Test, Part B. Contrary to expectations, both interactions demonstrated a trend towards head injury affecting the performance of the young participants more than the middle-aged participants. Possible explanations include the positive influence of higher IQs on recovery after head injury (middle-aged participants had a slightly higher estimated premorbid IQ than young participants), or alternatively young head-injured adults may be less likely than middle-aged people to take heed of advice to rest and return to work gradually in order to recover from a PCS.