Adolescent Adapted Wheelchair Sport Athlete Baseline Evaluation of Concussion-Like Symptoms

Context Wheelchair sport athletes have received growing consideration after the 6th International Conference on Concussion in Sport’s call for inclusion and investigation due to nonvalidated evaluation tools in this population. Limited baseline concussion data exist outside of Paralympic and collegiate adapted athletes. Objective To quantify baseline symptom evaluation and the effects of modifying factors of age, sex, and daily wheelchair use in a sample of adolescent adapted athletes. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting University adapted athletics facility. Patients or Other Participants Forty-seven nonconcussed adolescent adapted athletes (aged 14.87 ± 1.8 years, 78.7% male) from across the United States participated during a university-sanctioned adapted athletics youth and high school camp. Main Outcome Measure(s) Participants completed the Athlete Background and Symptom Evaluation of the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool 6. Demographics (eg, age, sex, wheelchair use), background medical information (eg, concussion history, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) and symptom evaluation, consisting of the 22 symptom items, total number of symptoms, symptom severity score, symptom factors (eg, physical, cognitive, insomnia, and emotional), and follow-up questions if symptoms worsened with physical and mental activity and percentage of normal feeling, were recorded. Results Thirty-four percent of athletes were asymptomatic at baseline, with the most commonly reported symptoms being headache (38.3%), balance problems (36.2%), and difficulty concentrating (34%). No age differences (≤15 or >15 years) occurred in total symptoms ( P = .31), severity scores ( P = .29), and symptom factors ( P range = .16 to .73). No sex differences existed in total symptoms ( P = .217), severity scores ( P = .189), and symptom factors ( P range = .11 to .16). No differences were observed between day chair users and nonusers for total symptoms ( P = .80), severity scores ( P = .77), and symptom factors ( P range = .20 to 96). Conclusions In a sample of adolescent adapted athletes, 66% reported baseline symptoms, with headache and balance problems being the 2 most prevalent. Age, sex, and daily wheelchair use were not modifiers for baseline symptom reporting.