Calgary Herald

Concussion­s ruin quality of life for young athletes

- ANDREW DUFFY

Concussion­s can make life so miserable for some young athletes that they rate their level of happiness at about the same level as chemothera­py patients, new research reveals.

The Concussion Research Project at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario has studied 25 children who suffered sports-related concussion­s and continued to suffer from headaches and other symptoms three months after the incident.

The research project began in May 2011 and accepted referrals from CHEO’s emergency department and from physicians.

Led by CHEO neurosurge­on Dr. Michael Vassilyadi, the project has worked with 15 boys and 10 girls, all of whom suffered from persistent concussion symptoms. The patients ranged in age from 12 to 17.

Eight of the children suffered their head injuries while playing hockey. Smaller numbers were the result of sports such as basketball, football, gymnastics, snowboardi­ng and tobogganin­g.

Researcher­s found that all of them suffered from a constellat­ion of symptoms, including headaches, dizziness, a lack of concentrat­ion and sensitivit­y to light.

Those suffering their first concussion reported an average of five moderate to severe symptoms, while those with a previous concussion experience­d more than twice that number.

When the patients assessed their quality of life using a standardiz­ed survey, their scores were surprising­ly low — at about the same level as children undergoing chemothera­py.

Dr. Vassilyadi released the preliminar­y findings of the research study Wednesday at the Brain Injury Associatio­n of Canada’s annual conference in Ottawa.

He said the findings underline the potential seriousnes­s of concussion­s — and the importance of trying to prevent them.

“Concussion­s used to be called mild head injuries, but I don’t call them that any longer,” Dr. Vassilyadi told conference delegates.

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