Adolescents who have experienced a concussion in the past 12 months could be 25 per cent more likely to struggle academically than youths who have no concussions, a new study suggests.
Of more than 10,000 high school students analysed from the 2019 Youth Risk Behaviour Survey, 14. 9 per cent reported they had at least one sports and activity-related concussion in the past year.
And the researchers calculated that having at least one concussion in the past 12 months was associated with a 25 per cent higher risk of poor academic standing – and this association was stronger with a history of repeated concussions.
“History of concussion was significantly associated with poor academic standing and experiencing multiple concussions could be particularly harmful on student outcomes,” said the authors, from the University of Washington in Seattle.
“School-based injury prevention efforts, including promotion of helmet use, school screening for concussions and adherence to return-to-play and return-to-learn guidelines, to reduce multiple concussion in sports, particularly for racial and ethnic groups most affected, may prove beneficial to students with concussion.”
In the USA, almost two million youth concussions happen every year which can lead to lasting physical, cognitive and emotional changes, but there is a lack of clear, standard guidance across the country about how to reintegrate students with concussion back into academic work.
There is also a lack of evidence about what impact concussions can have on the adolescent’s academic performance.
Addressing these issues, the University of Washington in Seattle study analysed data on 10,756 adolescents from the 2019 Youth Risk Behaviour Survey – a semi-annual survey that monitors health risks among students across the USA.
Most adolescents who reported no concussions were female (50.9 per cent), while most who reported one or more than two concussions were male (53.1 per cent and 63.5 per cent respectively).
Students who self-identified as black or African American represented a higher proportion of students with two or more concussions (15.6 per cent) compared with students with zero or one concussions (10.6 per cent and 9.4 per cent respectively).
Overall, a large majority of adolescents (78.8 per cent) reported to be in good academic standing.
The association varied by race/ethnicity, but the authors said future studies were needed to examine the interaction of race/ethnicity on the association.
The authors acknowledge that their study had some limitations in that it did not allow them to assess the change in academic standing before and after the reported concussions, self-reporting from the students about their concussion and outcome was not checked for verification, and the study did not incorporate socioeconomic variables such as family income and location of residence.
