Exploration of Symptom Clusters and Symptom Profiles in adults with Mild Traumatic Brain Injuries

Abstract

Mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBIs), commonly called concussions, are caused by a bump, jolt, or blow to the head or body, leading to brain injury. Annually, approximately three million individuals in the United States seek emergency department care for traumatic brain injury, most of which are mTBIs. Recommendations for treatment and management of mTBIs are symptom dependent. However, symptom presentation and recovery trajectories are highly variable from patient to patient. Symptom clustering and patient profiling enable greater understanding of underlying pathophysiological mechanisms of symptoms and the development of targeted interventions for at risk groups. The purpose of this dissertation is to better understand symptom presentation in adults with mTBI during the subacute phase of recovery through clustering of symptoms and the grouping of individuals with common symptom presentation.