Greater Awareness of TBI in Sports Means Better Reporting

There were nearly 100,000 more reported traumatic brain injuries in youth sports in 2009 than 2001, a 60 percent increase, according to a report released Thursday by the Center for Disease Control.

The good news is our games may not really be more dangerous.

“We believe that one reason for the increase in emergency department visits among children and adolescents may be a result of the growing awareness among parents and coaches, and the public as a whole, about the need for individuals with a suspected TBI to be seen by a health care professional,” Dr. Linda C. Degutis, the director of the CDC?s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, said.

The bad news is there is increasing medical evidence suggesting even a single traumatic brain injury, such as a concussion, can induce long-term changes in the brain similar to those found in people with neurodegenerative disease, according to a study by doctors at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Glasgow and Southern General Hospital in Glasgow, Scotland.

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