CONCUSSIONS IN YOUNG ADULTS

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Concussions In Young Athletes
Lauren Zito
The University of Rhode Island

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15 October 2014

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CONCUSSIONS IN YOUNG ADULTS

Sports are the second leading cause of traumatic brain injuries, next to car accidents, for
15-24 years olds. This article describes an epidemiology study comparing concussion rates among United States collegiate athletes as well as high school athletes. This study consisted of
100 high school level athletes from 9 different schools, as well as athletes from 180 Colleges.
Data from two different Injury surveillance Systems (one from high school sports and one from
US college sports) were collected. These systems presented the data to help calculate rates, describe recurring themes, and evaluate risk factors in concussions received from a sport related accident. There were some basic methods that were used in order to configure the data. A surveillance study was used to report information online for high school level sports injuries from 2005-2006. This allowed the collection of injury and expose data for athletes in 9 US high school sports from 100 randomly selected schools. In order to collect data from these sports, athletic trainers from participating schools reported data weekly online through the system. The reports included injuries that were sustained in either a practice or game that required medical attention and resulted in time off from game or practice for a day or more. This data was then analyzed to find the rates and patterns of concussions. In comparison, college level athletes were also examined through the NCAA ISS in 2005-2006. Injury exposure data from a variety of sports was given to the NCAA Sport and Policy Committee in order to help compile more safety guidelines for division 1, 2, and 3 sports. 180 schools participated in the collection process that included 16 different sports. Just like the high school level system, college level data was also entered through the athletic trainers.
After conducting these studies, it was found that the highest concussion rate was found to be football and soccer for high school and college levels. Although 5.8% of college sports injuries were concussions and 8.9% of high school sports injuries were concussions, the college level had a higher rate of concussions in comparison to high school. This survey system provided vital accurate data that will help injury prevention projects and help in the future to help form preventative measures through the study by point out the rates, patterns, and risk factors involved in concussions.

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CONCUSSIONS IN YOUNG ADULTS

I found this article to be very interesting and informative. Concussions are a serious injury that are affecting more and more athletes each and every day. If we do not do something to help prevent and educate about these injuries, the death rates from concussions will continue to increase and maybe even put sports related injures about car accidents for the number one cause of death among teenagers.
Not only did this article inform me of statistics among high school and collegiate athletes, but it also broke down the different sports by genders. I found it interesting that in sports played by both genders, girls obtained more concussions then boys in college and high school level playing. Also, it relayed highly important information about the risks and outcomes of concussions. I believe that everyone should be educated on this subject, and this can definitely happen through studies like these. This type of scientific data presented in this article will hopefully help individuals understand the severity and dangers of concussions.
These types of articles help remind me that anything can happen to anyone; it doesn't take a certain person to sustain an injury like this, but it