Characteristics of patients included and enrolled in studies on the prognostic value of serum biomarkers for prediction of post-concussion symptoms following a mild traumatic brain injury: a systematic review

Objective: Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) has been insufficiently researched and its definition remains elusive. Investigators are confronted by heterogeneity in patients, mechanism of injury and outcomes. Findings are thus often limited in generalizability and clinical application. Serum protein biomarkers are increasingly assessed to enhance prognostication of outcomes but their translation into clinical practice has yet to be achieved. A systematic review was performed to describe the adult populations included and enrolled in studies that evaluated the prognostic value of protein biomarkers to predict post-concussion symptoms following a mTBI. Data sources: Searches of MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL, CINAHL, Web of Science, PsycBITE, and PsycINFO up to October 2016. Data selection and extraction: Two reviewers independently screened for potentially eligible studies, extracted data and assessed the overall quality of evidence by outcome using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, ...