Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), including sport-related concussion, has become a major health issue. Nearly 10% of mTBI patients (aged 0-18 years) are symptomatic with post-concussion syndrome (PCS) three months after injury. Persistent post-concussion symptoms often result in significant disability and family burden. However, the biological explanation for these prolonged PCS symptoms remains unclear.

There are no useful models that help clinicians predict long term outcomes of TBI. This impairs clinical decision making and accurate risk stratification in therapeutic trials...