Did you know?
- Each year, U.S. emergency departments (EDs) treat an estimated 173,285 sports– and recreation-related Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs), including concussions, among children and adolescents, from birth to 19 years.
- During the last decade, ED visits for sports- and recreation-related TBIs, including concussions, among children and adolescents increased by 60%.
- Overall, the activities associated with the greatest number of TBI-related ED visits included bicycling, football, playground activities, basketball, and soccer.
- National surveillance in 9 high school sports:
- TBI represents almost 9% of all injuries reported in the 9 sports
- Numbers and rates are highest in football (55,007; 0.47 per 1000 athlete exposures) and girl’s soccer (29,167; 0.36 per 1000 athlete exposures)
- A national survey of all sports- and recreation-related injuries among all ages demonstrates that 31% occurred in a sports facility and 20% in a school facility.
Causes and Risk Groups
- Children from birth to 9 years commonly sustained injuries during playground activities or while bicycling.
- 71.0% of all sports- and recreation-related TBI emergency department visits were among males.
- 70.5% of sports- and recreation-related TBI emergency department visits were among persons aged 10-19 years.
- For males aged 10-19 years, sports- and recreation-related TBIs occurred most often while playing football or bicycling.
- Females aged 10-19 years sustained sports- and recreation-related TBIs most often while playing soccer or basketball or while bicycling.