Psychological distress and gender predict cognitive complaint after adult civilian mild traumatic brain injury in pre-morbidly healthy adults.

Subjective cognitive symptoms are common after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), and are associated with important outcome factors including return to work. This study examined self-reported cognitive symptoms in mTBI and trauma controls (TCs), and explored psychological distress and gender as predictors of these symptoms. Pre-morbidly healthy adults with mTBI ( n  = 68) and general trauma ( n  = 40) were prospectively recruited from inpatient hospital wards and assessed 6-10 weeks post-injury. Primary measures included self-reported cognitive symptoms, post-concussion symptoms, and psychological distress. Groups were matched on all background variables, including objective cognitive performance. Within this context, subjective cognitive symptoms were significantly elevated after mTBI relative to TCs ( t   =  3.396, p  = .001). In contrast, there was no difference in post-concussion symptoms between groups ( t   =  1.275, p  = .206). Psychological distress ( β  = .536, p  < .001) and gender ( β  = .253, p  = .012) predicted subjective cognitive symptoms in mTBI, with females and those with higher distress reporting greater symptoms. Unlike general post-concussion symptoms, subjective cognitive symptoms were elevated after mTBI relative to TCs, suggesting that mTBI-specific factors underly this elevation. Females and individuals with high psychological distress are important subgroups to consider for potential intervention following mTBI.