Journal: Sport-Related Brain Injury in Children on the Rise

Charleston, SCIt is among a parent's worst nightmares: watching a child suffer a traumatic brain injury while playing a sport. For adolescents involved in sport, a brain injury may mean time away from the sport, lost time at school and many doctors' appointments, not to mention rehabilitation. If the brain injury is serious, the adolescent could suffer paralysis and permanent damage. Furthermore, if the brain injury is followed up with another brain injury accident before the first has healed, the results can be devastating.

Although parents might think that sport-related brain injuries are relatively rare, a study published in the September 2010 issue of Pediatrics suggests that sport-related concussions—a type of brain injury—are on the rise in children and adolescents. According to researchers, "Young athletes pose a unique challenge, because their brains are still developing and may be more susceptible to the effects of a concussion."

The statistics confirm that young athletes are at an increased risk of brain injuries compared with older athletes. Researchers noted that second-impact syndrome, which occurs when an athlete who has already sustained one head injury sustains a second before the symptoms associated with the first have cleared up, has only been reported in cases of athletes younger than 20 years old. Second-impact syndrome can cause cerebral swelling and death.

Furthermore, according to the study, since 1945 more than 90 percent of head injury-related fatalities from sports occurred in athletes high school age or younger, as recorded by the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research. High school football players are three times more likely to suffer a catastrophic head injury than college football players.

The data led researchers to conclude that sport-related concussions "are common in youth and high school sports."

Meanwhile, a second study published in the September 2010 issue of Pediatrics noted that between 2001 and 2005, children ages eight to 19 had approximately 502,000 emergency department visits for concussion. Of those, 35 percent were ages eight to 13. Approximately half of the emergency department visits included in the study involved sport-related concussions.

Researchers also noted that the number of sport-related concussions in organized team sports have increased significantly in a 10-year period. This increase, however, may be due to increased competitiveness in youth sports, increased intensity of play and practice times, and increased awareness and reporting of concussions.

Some people believe more should be done to protect student athletes. A 2009 study conducted by the Center for Injury Research and Policy, and cited by the Post and Courier (02/14/11) found that 40 percent of high school athletes who had suffered a concussion between 2005 and 2008 returned to sports before their brains had fully healed, putting them at risk of a second serious injury.