Symptoms of Concussion, Brain Injury for 6.8 Percent of ≤17s in 2020

FRIDAY, Dec. 3, 2021 (HealthDay News) — In 2020, 6.8 percent of U.S. children aged 17 years and under had ever had symptoms of concussion or brain injury, with increased likelihood among non-Hispanic White children, according to a December data brief published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Health Statistics.

Lindsey I. Black, M.P.H., and Benjamin Zablotsky, Ph.D., from the National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Maryland, presented national estimates of lifetime symptomatology and health care professional diagnoses of concussions or brain injuries among children aged 0 to 17 years using data from the National Health Interview Survey for 2020.

The researchers found that 6.8 percent of children aged 17 years and under had ever had symptoms of concussion or brain injury in 2020. Compared with children of other race and Hispanic-origin groups, non-Hispanic White children were more likely to have ever had symptoms of a concussion or brain injury. Overall, 3.9 percent of children aged 17 years and under had ever had a diagnosis of concussion or brain injury by a health care provider. The likelihood of having ever had a diagnosis of concussion or brain injury was increased for boys and non-Hispanic White children (4.7 and 5.2 percent, respectively) compared with their peers.

“Overall, 6.8 percent of children had ever had symptoms of a concussion or brain injury and 3.9 percent were ever diagnosed with a concussion or brain injury,” the authors write. “For both symptoms and diagnosis, prevalence increased with increasing age.”

Abstract/Full Text