| Study | Study objective | Study design | Study population | Symptom measure | Psychometric evidence |
| Gioia (2008)25 | Evaluate parent, teacher and child/adolescent symptom reports on post-concussion symptom inventory. | Prospective normative | 620 children ages 5–18 without concussion and their parents and teachers (n = 69).Sport: unspecified | PCSIParent 26 itemsChild reportAge 5–7 13 itemsAge 8–18 25 itemsTeacher 26 items | Reliability: inter-rater reliability (parent, teacher, child, adolescent): moderate relationships (r = 0.4 to r = 0.5) between ratersValidity: (1) concurrent: base rate levels of symptoms reports by parents, teachers, children and adolescents are generally low. Parent, teacher and child/adolescent reports of symptoms are moderately correlatedSerial use: not reported |
| Janusz & Gioia (2008)26 | Evaluate psychometric properties of parent- and child post-concussion symptom reports. | Prospective normative | 180 non-concussed children, ages 5–12 and their parents.Sport: unspecified | PCSIParent; 26 itemsChild reportAge 5–7 13 itemsAge 8–12 25 items | Reliability: internal consistency reliabilities were strong for all three scale versions (r = 0.82 to 0.93)Validity: concurrent: parent symptom base rates low age 5–12; no symptom rated as significant problem by greater than 10% of sample. Child reported more frequent symptoms, age 5–7; greater than 10% of sample rating 6 symptoms as a frequent problem (“A lot”). Low, non-significant correlation between parent and child total symptom scores. Construct: Multi-factorial structure identified for each scaleSerial use: not reported |
| Vaughan (2008)27 | (1) Evaluate the psychometric properties of age-specific symptom report of healthy children. (2) Identify key symptom clusters that differentiate concussed and non-concussed children. | Prospective cohort | 107 children ages 5–12 with and 336 without concussion.Sport: unspecified | PCSI—child reportAge 5–7 13 itemsAge 8–12 25 items | Reliability: good internal consistency for the measure at two different age groups (age 5–7 r = 0.79, age 8–12 r = 0.91)Validity: predictive: headaches predicted membership in 5–7 group; symptom cluster of thinking slowly, numbness, moving slowly, sleeping more, difficulty remembering and difficulty concentrating predicted membership in the 8–12 groupSerial use: not reported |
| Schneider & Gioia (2007)28 | Evaluate the psychometric properties of 2 administrations of age-specific symptom report of healthy children. | Prospective normative, within subjects | 180 healthy children; ages 5–12Sport: unspecified | PCSI—child reportAge 5–7 13 itemsAge 8–12 25 items | Reliability: two age groups: internal consistency (age 5–7 r = 0.76/0.72 (form 1/form 2); age 8–12 r = 0.87/.90); test-retest (age 5–7 r = 0.62; age 8–12 r = 0.84)Validity: concurrent: base rates of symptoms examined (age 5–7 report more than 8–12); examined sex differences (no differences in younger age, variable differences in older group)Serial use: two administrations mean interval 9.5 days; RCI not conducted |
| Diver (2007)29 | (1) Explore the concordance of post-concussive symptoms between parent and adolescent report. (2) Compare level of symptom ratings to a non-injured population. | Prospective cohort | 290 adolescents; ages 13–18, with and without concussion and parents.Sport: unspecified | PCSIParent report 26 itemsAdolescent reportAge 13–18 26 items | Reliability: not reportedValidity: concurrent: concordance between parent and adolescent overall report of symptoms. Scale differentiated concussion patients from non-injured controlsSerial use: not reported |
PCSI, post-concussion symptom inventory; RCI, reliable change indices.