Department of Orthopaedic Surgery Associate Professor Sara Gould, M.D., published “Socioeconomic and demographic considerations of pediatric concussion recovery” in the Journal of Clinical Neuroscience.
According to authors, the purpose of the research, which was a collaboration with the Department of Neurosurgery, was to investigate predictors of concussion recovery in children (5–12) versus adolescents (13–18) while identifying economic and demographic disparities in post-concussion care at a tertiary referral concussion clinic versus emergency department (ED).
Authors found concussion clinic patients were more likely to have private insurance than ED patients and less likely to have Medicaid and self pay. They also found that children were more likely to be hospitalized after concussion diagnosis than adolescents.
Researchers discovered that attending public school was associated with a 1.8 times greater hazard ratio for shorter time to recovery compared to attending private school. Additionally, presence of a diagnosed psychiatric disorder was associated with a HR of 0.5, indicating a longer time to recovery (p < 0.001) than patients without a disorder.
Ultimately, the team of researchers concludes that their findings should be considered when discussing contact limitations in children and youths sports.
All authors include:
- James Pate
- Ian Cummins
- James Mooney
- Kasey Cooper
- Chandler McLeod
- Sara Gould