CDC Announces New Studies on Concussion and Children

CDC Announces New Studies on Concussions in Children

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Injury Center has announced two new studies completed in collaboration with colleagues at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia:

•   Characteristics Concussion in Elementary School-Aged Children: Implications for Clinical Management
• Characteristics of Diagnosed Concussions in Children Aged 0 to 4 Years Presenting to a Large Pediatric Healthcare Network

Findings from these studies demonstrate that many children with TBI:

• Report symptoms not currently in current standardized assessment tools.
• Are not referred for rehabilitation therapies.
• May not receive a letter recommending standardized return to school accommodations.

These reports highlight important opportunities to:

•  Promote referral to services that may support recovery.
• Expand use of discharge instructions that include school accommodations.
• Develop and validate assessment tools that include signs and symptoms of concussion common among young children.

Two other studies and articles that CDC has highlighted:

• A CDC study, Traumatic Brain Injury-Related Emergency Department Visits Among American Indian and Alaska Native Persons—National Patient Information Reporting System, 2005-2014
• A CDC report, Use of sport-related concussion information sources among parents of United States middle school children addresses how a parents’ knowledge about concussion can influence how they seek and gather information regarding care of their children.

In addition, a special issue of Brain Injury Professional features the important work of Juliet Haarbauer-Krupa, PhD (a Senior Health Scientist on CDC’s Traumatic Brain Injury Team) and her dedication to the publication of the Report to Congress on the Management of TBI in Children