A new study conducted by a University of Ottawa researcher and published in the journal of the American Medical Association has found a way to predict which patients are likely to experience post-concussion symptoms (PCS) after suffering head trauma.
The research was led by Dr. Roger Zemek from the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), who specializes in pediatric brain injuries. The study is the world’s largest on concussions to date.
The study identified 12 points doctors can use to predict the risk level for PCS a month after a patient suffers a concussion. Using factors such as age, gender, and medical history, patients can be classified as being at a high, medium or low risk for PCS.
For low-risk patients, the study found there was a 90 per cent chance they would not go on to develop PCS within a month of suffering head trauma. For high-risk patients, almost two-thirds went on to develop PCS in the month following their injury.
PCS can last for days, weeks, months or even a year, depending on the severity of the concussion sustained.
“Concussions do not impact all children the same way. Some may have more physical symptoms [such as] headache, nausea, or dizziness, whereas others may have more cognitive symptoms,” Zemek said in an email. “Others still may have more emotional or sleep problems. Every case is unique, which is why it has been so challenging to predict this heterogeneous outcome one month away.”
According to Zemek, the study has the potential to allow for more individualized patient care, as well as allowing doctors to identify those at a high risk of PCS. This would permit them to suggest appropriate treatment options sooner, which can be crucial in ensuring a full recovery.
The national study included data from more than 3,000 people between the ages of five and 18 who were diagnosed with concussions at nine hospitals across Canada between 2013 and 2015.
Of those who participated in the study, almost two-thirds of concussions were the result of sports or other recreational activities.
In particular, the study found that although boys are more likely to get a concussion, girls are at a higher risk of suffering lingering symptoms.
At the same time, older children and teens were found to be at a higher risk of long-term effects than children under the age of eight.
CHEO sees approximately 900 patients with concussions each year—an average of almost three cases a day, according to Zemek.
A 2013 Statistics Canada survey found more than 30,000 Canadians between the ages of 12 and 19 reported receiving a concussion or another head-related injury.
Alanna Pelton, a third-year biology student at Carleton University, has had four concussions in seven years. She received her first one when she headed a ball during a soccer game. Four years later, she suffered two more concussions after falling off a horse. In January, she slipped on an icy sidewalk.
Each time, she said it took about one to three months to fully recover.
Pelton said she can get frustrated from occasional difficulty remembering things off the top of her head or recalling information for tests.
“I don’t think there’s anything that could have been done differently for me in terms of diagnosis or treatment, but I definitely wish that I myself had taken more proper care to allow my brain to fully heal,” Pelton said. “You basically have to rest your brain, which means no reading, no TV, no nothing. I feel like my recovery time definitely could’ve been reduced if I had taken the doctor’s orders and the health of my brain more seriously and allowed it to totally heal.”
