Teens who are sensitive to light or noise may be more likely to also have emotional symptoms such as anxiety, after a concussion, according to a new study.

The symptoms after a concussion can vary widely from person to person. Symptoms can include physical, emotional and cognitive difficulties.

"While most people recover from a concussion within a week, a number of factors affect people's recovery, and studies have shown that teenage athletes may take up to seven to 10 days longer to recover than older athletes," study author Lisa M. Koehl said in a statement.

For the study, the research team collected and analyzed data from 37 athletes age 12 to 17 who had persisting symptoms for an average of 37 days following a concussion. One group of 22 teens had emotional symptoms such as irritability, aggression, anxiety, depression, apathy, frequent mood changes or excessive emotional reactions after the concussion. The second group of 15 teens did not have emotional symptoms. There were no differences between the two groups in factors such as what percentage experienced loss of consciousness or amnesia, indicating that the groups were likely comparable in the level of severity of concussion.

Researchers found that teens who had anxiety were 55 percent more likely to self-report attention difficulties than those without anxiety, while teens with irritability/aggression were 35 percent more likely to self-report problems with attention than teens without irritability.

"Identifying factors such as these that may exacerbate issues teens experience after concussion may help in planning for the appropriate treatment and in making decisions about when to return to play and what accommodations are needed at school for these athletes," the researchers said.

The findings were recently presented at The Sports Concussion Conference in Chicago.