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Copyright of Canadian Journal of Dental Hygiene is the property of Canadian Dental Hygienists Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Objectives: 1) To determine which characteristics of adolescent athletes with SRC are associated with 'early' versus 'late' presentation for multimodal treatment; 2) to build a propensity score to investigate the effects of treatment timing during the management of SRCs. Methods: Associations between early (0-7 days) versus late (8-28 days) presentation for treatment and pre-specified sociodemographic, pre-injury and injury characteristics were investigated in a historical cohort study of 2949 multi-sport athletes across Canada aged 12-18 years diagnosed with a SRC in community-based healthcare clinics. Results: Early presentation was associated with being male, completing a pre-injury baseline assessment, and responding 'yes' or 'no' to having a diagnosed learning disability. Older athletes who reported previous SRCs were less likely to present early. The propensity score demonstrated an area under the curve of 0.71 (95% CI, 0.69 to 0.73). Conclusions: Male athletes with a completed baseline assessment were more likely to seek early treatment following a SRC, and older athletes who reported a greater number of previous SRCs were less likely to present early. External validation of the propensity score is needed before examining the impact of treatment timing on adolescent athlete recovery outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]