Children and young adults are being diagnosed with concussions at an increasingly high rate, up 500 percent from 2010 to 2014, according to new data from FAIR Health, an independent, national nonprofit.
Concussions are a type of traumatic brain injury that cause the head and brain to quickly moving back and forth, potentially leading to cell damage and chemical changes. Across the United States, approximately 175,000 children receive emergency room treatment every year due to sports-related activities, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The new data, published in an infographic, indicates that for people under 22, September and October were the busiest months for concussions. Those months, of course, coincide with football season. The data also suggests concussion rates are greater among high school students than middle school or college students.
According to FAIR Health, boys tend to have more concussions than girls, though the greatest difference between the two genders was between ages 5 and 10 (boys at 68 percent, girls at 32 percent). However, women between the ages of 19 and 22 had more concussions than men (56 percent to 44 percent).
Even when concussions are considered mild, they require careful recovery. When injured kids return to school too soon, they can experience can lead to headaches, dizziness and lightheadedness, visual and audible sensitivities, concentration and memory issues and disordered sleep.
“Every time you get [a concussion], there’s some effect on the brain that doesn’t go away,” Dr. William Meehan, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness, and director of the Micheli Center for Sports Injury Prevention in Waltham, Massachusetts, told U.S. News last year. “Concussions have a cumulative effect.”
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Youth Concussion Rates Rise 500 Percent Since 2010 originally appeared on usnews.com
