Same-Day Return to Game After Concussion is Still Common Among Child Athletes

SAN FRANCISCO—Concussion guidelines and laws mandate that young athletes stay out of the game if they have any signs of concussion, but research shows that these recommendations are not being followed.

Shane M. Miller, MD, FAAP, a pediatric sports medicine specialist, and his colleague Meagan Sabatino, evaluated medical records of 185 patients who were between age 7 and 18 years. The patients were all treated for concussion during a 10-month period in 2014.

The researchers found that most concussions occurred while children were playing football (47%) or soccer (16%). In contrast to guideline recommendations, 38% of children returned to play on the same day as their concussion. Although these patients reportedly had less severe symptoms of dizziness and balance issues immediately after the injury, they were statistically more likely to experience increased symptoms by the time they were assessed in the clinic. The symptoms experienced included increased nausea, dizziness, balance problems, light and noise sensitivity, head pressure, confusion, trouble concentrating and falling asleep, and feeling slowed down.

Most patients were male, but there were otherwise no distinguishing risk factors, the researchers noted.

“Our findings suggest that we still have work to do to change behaviors to protect short- and long-term brain health of youth athletes,” said Ms. Sabatino.

—Lauren LeBano

Reference

Same-day return to play after pediatric athletes sustain concussion. Abstracted presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics 2016 National Conference & Exhibition in San Francisco, CA. October 22, 2016.