Epidemiology and Pathophysiology of Minor Traumatic Brain Injury

Abstract

This review article presents evidence from the current literature on the epidemiology and pathophysiology of concussion. The recent epidemiologic data for a variety of sports are presented relevant to the general population, and professional, college, and high school athletics. The evidence for the pathophysiology of head injury is presented using a mixture of current animal and human studies. A brief discussion on the benefits and limitations of the evidence is offered for the both the epidemiology and pathophysiology of concussion, and how it relates to current treatment options.

The neuropsychological outcomes of concussion: A systematic review of meta-analyses on the cognitive sequelae of mild traumatic brain injury.

“…Many physiological consequences of mTBI normalize by 2 weeks after the initial injury (Giza & Hovda, 2001;Grindel, 2003), leading Broglio and Puetz (2008) to assess recovery from sportsrelated mTBI across a 14-day postinjury timeframe. These authors did not find time since injury uniquely predictive of effect size at initial assessment; however, restricted range of time since injury and colinearity of this variable with other predictors in their Comparatively, a more recent meta-analysis (Dougan et al, 2013) identified a slight increase in effect size from 24 hr postinjury (d ϭ .38) to 1-10 days postinjury (d ϭ .54), but this trend reversed (i.e., d ϭ .90 at 24 hr; d ϭ .41 at 1-10 days) when including only effect sizes from more rigorous designs (i.e., those involving both selfcontrol and independent control group comparisons).…”

Sport-related concussion in the young athlete

“…Evidence also shows that concussions are under-reported in youth ice hockey [13 ]. Soccer, wrestling, basketball, field hockey and lacrosse are similarly associated with a high number of concussions [14,15].…”

The Epidemiology of Head Injuries in English Professional Rugby Union

“…3,4 A thorough understanding of the epidemiology of head injuries enables coaches and medical staff to review the adequacy of their injury prevention and rehabilitation strategies and inform the planning of training programs. 5 With almost 200 countries affiliated with the International Rugby Board (iRB), rugby union is the world's most popular collision team sport.…”