Do preinjury life events moderate the outcomes of mild traumatic brain injuries in children? An A-CAP Study.

Objective: To examine preinjury life events as moderators of postconcussive symptoms (PCS) and quality of life (QoL) in children with pediatric mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) versus orthopedic injury (OI).

Methods: Participants were 633 children with mTBI and 334 with OI, ages 8-16.99, recruited from 5 pediatric emergency departments and followed for 6 months postinjury as part of a prospective cohort study. Preinjury life events were measured retrospectively using the Child and Adolescent Survey of Experiences, PCS using the Health and Behavior Inventory (HBI) and Post-Concussion Symptom Interview (PCS-I), and QoL using the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL). Analyses involved longitudinal regression using restricted cubic splines, with group, positive and negative life events, and time as primary predictors. Covariates included age, sex, race, socioeconomic status, preinjury history (i.e., headache, migraine, previous concussion), and parent-rated retrospective PCS-I, HBI, and PedsQL scores.

Results: PCS and QoL were worse after mTBI than OI, but group differences declined with time (all p < .001). Group differences in PCS were larger at higher levels of positive life events, which predicted lower PCS (p= .03 to p < .001) and higher QoL (p = .048) after OI but not after mTBI. Negative life events predicted worse PCS and QoL in both groups (p = .002 to p < .001).

Conclusions: Preinjury positive life events moderate outcomes after pediatric injury, with a protective effect seen in OI but not in mTBI. Negative life events are consistently associated with worse outcomes regardless of injury type.