Head Injury Treatment With Healthy and Advanced Dietary Supplements: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of the Tolerability, Safety, and Efficacy of Branched Chain Amino Acids in the Treatment of Concussion in Adolescents and Young Adults.

Concussion is a common injury in the adolescent and young adult populations. Although branched chain amino acid (BCAA) supplementation has shown improvements in neurocognitive and sleep function in pre-clinical animal models of mild-to-moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI), to date, no studies have been performed evaluating the efficacy of BCAAs in concussed adolescents and young adults. The goal of this pilot trial was to determine the efficacy, tolerability, and safety of varied doses of oral BCAA supplementation in a group of concussed adolescents and young adults.

A Randomized Trial of Incentivization to Maximize Retention for Real-Time Symptom and Activity Monitoring Using Ecological Momentary Assessment in Pediatric Concussion.

Objective: The aims of this study were to determine the incentivization strategy that maximizes patient adherence to report symptoms and activity via ecological momentary assessment (EMA) after pediatric concussion, and assess the feasibility of tracking concussed youth using EMA from the emergency department (ED) setting.

Methods: This study was a randomized controlled trial of participants ages 13 to 18 years with concussion presenting to an urban, academic pediatric ED within 5 days of injury. Participants were randomized to 1 of 4 incentive arms: 2 dynamic (loss-based and streak) and 2 control flat-rate (monetary and electronic device).

Characteristics and Outcomes for Delayed Diagnosis of Concussion in Pediatric Patients Presenting to the Emergency Department.

Background: Concussions are common pediatric injuries. Previous studies have found concussed youth may be underdiagnosed in the emergency department (ED), but outcomes for those with delayed diagnosis have yet to be described.

Objective: Our aim was to compare visit characteristics and outcomes of patients who present to the ED with head injury who receive immediate vs.