|
 Researchers examined data on 110 male and 102 female athletes,
ranging in age from 11 to 18 years, who sustained their first
concussion while participating in sports.
Half of the girls reported still having symptoms at least 28 days
after sustaining a concussion, while half of the boys no longer had
symptoms after 11 days, the study found.
“We have known for at least the last decade that females who
participate in similar sports as males have higher rates of
concussion,” said Dr. Mark Halstead, director of the Sports
Concussion Clinic at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
“Boys and girls likely have different recovery courses, but we have
to treat each concussion individually,” Halstead, who wasn’t
involved in the study, said by email. “Adult coaches need to create
an environment and culture for their players that stresses that a
concussion is an important injury to not downplay and encourage the
reporting of symptoms.”
Concussions represent almost 9 percent of all injuries in high
school athletics, note Dr. John Neidecker, a sports concussion
specialist in Raleigh, North Carolina, and his colleagues in the
Journal of the American Osteopathic Association.
Emergency room visits for sports concussions have surged in recent
years due to both heightened awareness of these injuries and the
increased intensity and duration of practices and competitions, they
write.
To assess the duration of symptoms, the researchers examined patient
records for young athletes treated for concussions at one medical
practice in New Jersey from 2011 to 2013. The athletes were 15 years
old on average.
Injured boys most often participated in football, soccer, wrestling,
lacrosse and ice hockey. Most of the girls who sustained concussions
participated in soccer, basketball, softball, field hockey or
cheerleading.
Overall, 75 percent of the boys recovered from their concussions
within three weeks, compared to just 42 percent of girls.
There wasn’t a statistically meaningful difference in recovery time
based on the type of sport played or whether athletes were
participating in middle school or high school athletics.
[to top of second column] |
Beyond its small size and focus on a single medical practice,
another limitation of the study is that the medical records rely on
teens to accurately recall and report their own symptoms during
exams, the authors note. The researchers also didn’t have a complete
picture of the circumstances that caused concussions or the severity
of injuries.
It’s also possible that some of the difference in recovery time for
boys and girls was due to pre-existing medical conditions, said Dr.
Monica Vavilala, director of the Harborview Injury Prevention and
Research Center (HIPRC) at the University of Washington in Seattle.
“More females had preexisting migraines and mental illness which may
be very important and more so than inherent biological differences,”
Vavilala, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by email. “Larger
studies that specifically examine sex biology are needed to
understand the effect of sex on recovery trajectory after
concussion.”
While more severe concussions can produce more serious and lasting
impairments, the study also didn’t detail the extent of cognitive,
balance, vision or other symptoms, noted Anthony Kontos, research
director of the Sports Medicine Concussion Program at the University
of Pittsburgh.
“First and foremost, the current findings highlight the importance
of seeking proper care following a concussion,” Kontos, who wasn’t
involved in the study, said by email.
“There are a lot of treatment interventions from behavioral
management to vestibular and vision therapy that help athletes
recover from concussions,” Kontos added. “However, a large number -
estimates are as high as 55 to 60 percent - of young athletes with
concussions do not receive clinical care beyond the initial
diagnosis.”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2xNS1fP Journal of the American Osteopathic
Association, online October 1, 2017.
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
