REPORTED PREVALENCE OF UNCONSCIOUSNESS FROM MECHANICAL IMPACT TO THE HEAD IN UNIVERSITY POPULATIONS DURING A 15-YEAR PERIOD

The prevalence of at least one episode of unconsciousness during child hood due to a mechanical impact to the skull, was inferred by the resp onse to one item embedded within a questionnaire of 140 items. 50% of the 633 university men and 33% of the 863 university women reported su ch unconsciousness; the prevalence did not change significantly betwee n samples over a 15-yr. period. Multiple regression analysis indicated that the 10 items most strongly associated with the report of childho od unconsciousness did not explain more than about 10% of the variance . The majority of the items were those associated with complex partial epileptic-like signs and included (adult) episodes of memory blanks, mystical experiences, dissociation, and sudden meaningfulness.