Between 1.1 million and 1.9 million sports- and recreation-related concussions (SRRCs) occur annually in U.S. children aged 18 years and under, according to a new study.
In the United States, more than 44 million children participate in sports annually, yet the number of SRRCs is unknown. “One challenge in calculating the incidence of SRRCs is that injured youth may not receive treatment, or may receive care from a variety of providers including certified athletic trainers, primary care, and emergency medicine physicians,” said Dr. Mersine A. Bryan of the University of Washington, Seattle, and her associates.
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Three national databases were used in this study to conduct research for 2013. “Incidence rates were calculated on the basis of the number of claims divided by the number of enrollees,” they said.
Of children with SRRCs seen in health care settings, outpatient treatment had the highest number at 377,978 visits. The emergency department received between 115,479 and 166,929 sports-related visits, and there were 2,886-4,936 actual hospitalizations. Athletic trainer visits for all school sports totaled 85,885. The number of SRRCs not seen by any health care provider was estimated at 511,590-1,240,972.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is currently developing a surveillance system for SRRCs that would include recreational sources of concussion.
Find the full study at the Journal of Pediatrics (2016 Jun 20. doi: 10.1542/peds.2015-4635).