Late post-concussional symptoms in traumatic head injury. An analysis of frequency and risk factors.

During follow-up of 485 adult patients with traumatic head injury, 51% of the patients reported new post-concussional symptoms after an observation period of 3-5 years (mean 4.0 years). Most data, including the level of consciousness on admission, length of post-traumatic amnesia and days of hospitalization were poor parameters for predicting which patients would suffer late complications. A few variables were statistically of predictive importance: Sex, repeated head injury and skull fracture. Age was a risk factor for multiple complaints.