Aim: Determine the frequency of factors that complicate identification of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) in emergency department (ED) patients.
Setting: Chart review.
Materials & methods: Records of 3,042 patients (age 18-45) exposed to a potential mechanism of mTBI were reviewed for five common complicating factors and signs of mTBI.
Results: Most patients (65.1%) had at least one complicating factor: given narcotics in the ED (43.7%), on psychotropic medication (18.4%), psychiatric diagnosis (15.3%), alcohol consumption near time of admission (14.2%), and pre-admission narcotic prescription (8.9%).
Conclusion: Our findings highlight the frequency of these confounding factors in this population. Future research should identify how these factors interact with performance on assessment measures to improve evidence-based mTBI assessment in this population.
Keywords: assessment; comorbidities; concussion; confounding variables; emergency department.