Objective To evaluate the predictive value of common, persisting post-concussion symptoms (dizziness, visual problems, sensitivity to light, sleeping more than usual, trouble falling asleep and irritability) at admission to a designated concussion treatment clinic for the presence or absence of anxiety at clinic discharge.

Design Prospective study.

Setting A multidisciplinary concussion clinic providing acute interventional rehabilitation for patients with post-concussion syndrome.

Participants Eighty patients have been discharged from the clinic, with complete data on 72 patients. Mean age was 34.2 years (SD=12.6) and 54.2% were female.

Outcome Measures On clinic admission, initial symptoms, assessed using the Oregon Post Concussion Symptom Checklist, directs referral for therapy. Neuropsychologists administer the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale at clinic admission and discharge where anxiety is defined as scores of ≥8 (dependent variable).

Main Results On admission, 58.3% of patients were classified as anxious. Whilst there was a statistically significant decrease in mean anxiety scores from admission to discharge (estimated using negative binomial regression, 0.75, 95% CI = 0.61 to 0.93, p = 0.008), 41.7% remained anxious at discharge.

Poisson regression was employed to predict anxiety presence at discharge using the six specified symptoms, and obtain relative risks for each. Within the regression model, both sleep items performed just as well overall in predicting anxiety presence compared with all six symptoms (p = 0.67).

Conclusions Anxiety is a persisting symptom within post-concussion syndrome. Evaluating the predictive value of initial symptoms may result in extra therapy sessions directed at alleviating this symptom.