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Concussion Care Pathway

Date of last update: September, 2024

8. Diagnosis

 

  • Prevalence: Nearly one in two people will experience a concussion in their lifetime.

  • Considerations: While diagnosing concussion is straightforward in cases involving an obvious external force to the head, clinical reasoning is essential when symptoms overlap with other conditions (e.g. anxiety, migraine). A comprehensive diagnostic strategy should integrate clinical findings with the patient’s history and any relevant risk factors  to rule out more serious conditions or traumatic brain injuries.

 

Diagnostic Criteria:

  • One or more of the following conditions must be met for a concussion diagnosis, provided a plausible mechanism of injury has been established and other potential causes for the patient’s symptoms have been ruled out:

    • Presence of one or more of the following clinical signs: Altered mental status, loss of consciousness (<30 minutes), amnesia (<24 hours), neurological signs (e.g., seizure, coordination problems).

    • Presence of two or more new or worsened symptoms: Subjective alteration of mental status (i.e., feeling dazed or confused), physical symptoms (headache, nausea, dizzy or sensitive to light/sound), cognitive symptoms (feeling run down, fatigue or foggy/lower processing speed), emotional symptoms (irritability, sadness, lability, impulsivity).

    • Imaging: Clear evidence of neurotrauma.

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