The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released guidelines for managing concussions in children for the first time, in a bid to equip doctors with the necessary tools to ensure the best outcomes for young patients with mild traumatic brain injuries.
Concussions have received a lot of attention due to their connection with various health issues, such as memory loss, dementia, and depression. However, most of the attention has been focused on concussions in adults, and it is about time for concussions in children to join the discussions.
The Problem Of Concussions In Children
According to CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control director Dr. Debra Houry, over 800,000 kids every year seek treatment for concussions. The number is increasing due to the growing popularity of youth sports, while more concern is surrounding possible concussions due to their link to serious health problems.
Between 2005 and 2009, almost 3 million children visited the emergency room due to concussion symptoms. Most children who suffer concussions recover within six weeks.
Matthew Breiding, who oversees the Traumatic Brain Injury Team for the Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention of the CDC, said that any form of brain injury could have an effect on the development of a child. Making matters worse is that for some children who suffer concussions, the effect may not be recognized until years after the mild traumatic brain injury was sustained.
Concussion Treatment Guidelines For Kids
The CDC said that the concussion management guidelines for children that it released were based on the "most comprehensive review of the science" from the previous 25 years related to mild traumatic brain injuries.
The new guidelines, which were published in the JAMA Pediatrics journal, includes a set of 19 recommendations that cover the diagnosis and treatment of concussions in children, plus various suggestions such as when kids should be allowed to return to school.
The CDC highlighted "five key practice-changing" recommendations, specifically the following:
- Do not routinely image pediatric patients to diagnose a mild traumatic brain injury.
- Use validated, age-appropriate symptom scales to diagnose a concussion.
- Assess for risk factors for prolonged recovery, including history of concussions or other brain injury, severe symptom presentation immediately after the injury, and personal characteristics and family history.
- Provide patients and their parents/caregivers with instructions on returning to activity customized to their symptoms.
- Counsel patients and their parents/caregivers to return gradually to non-sports activities after no more than two to three days of rest.
The hope is that CDC's guidelines for managing concussions in children will result in better treatment for kids who suffer mild traumatic brain injuries, though there is still a lot left to learn about the topic.
