University of Florida College of Medicine-Jacksonville faculty and researchers played a major role in a study of youth sports-related concussions in the Northeast Florida.
The study, released this week by the Health Planning Council of Northeast Florida, looked at hospitalization records for a four year period ending in 2009 to look at the number of youth between 10 and 18 treated for concussions in emergency departments.
The number of children in that age group treated in emergency departments for sports-related traumatic brain injury (TBI), increased 75 percent – while overall cases of TBI for the same group were up 18 percent.
The study found racial disparities regarding who sought treatment in emergency departments and ran counter to national data on whether boys or girls are more likely to suffer TBI during athletic activity.
Sports concussions have been a hot topic across the country and the yearlong study with full cooperation from all area hospitals provides the groundwork for further research in Northeast Florida.
Madeline M. Joseph, M.D., an associate professor of emergency medicine and chief of the pediatric emergency medicine division on the Jacksonville campus, presented the study this week at the annual Health Planning Council of Northeast Florida meeting.
Researchers from the Center for Health Equity and Quality Research (CHEQR) developed a data analysis plan, crunched the numbers and compiled the report.
The Health Planning Council serves seven counties in Northeast Florida: Baker, Clay, Duval, Flagler, Nassau, St. Johns and Volusia.
The council often generates its annual studies based on questions from the community and did so this time as well, said Dawn Emerick, Ed.D, president and CEO of the council.
Joseph was working on a separate research project about TBI in children when she learned about the Health Planning Council study and became involved in the research design of the study addressing ED utilization and neuro-imaging in sports related TBI. Joseph then turned to CHEQR for additional support in research design and data management for the project – all services the center provides for faculty across campus, said David L. Wood, M.D., professor of pediatrics and medical director of CHEQR.
Emerick hopes the study will spark more research and make Northeast Florida a statewide leader on youth sports TBI – developing return to play guidelines and consistent policies that can be implemented through Pop Warner and other youth athletic associations.
White athletes were taken to the emergency department twice as often as all other races combined, even though African American youth are active participants in contact sports such as football, Joseph said.
Joseph said she and the CHEQR staff will dig further into the disparities, particularly the racial and economic components. Joseph is already involved with researchers from the emergency department in a survey of parents at local Pop Warner football games to see how much parents know about concussions and if they can detect warning signs in their children.
This week’s release was aimed more at the community to drive awareness and establish a research agenda to keep young athletes safe, Emerick said.
Now, Joseph and others will seek to have the study published in medical journals.
The local data also contradicted national studies that have found female athletes at a higher risk for a concussion. In Northeast Florida, the percentage of emergency departments visits for TBI that were sports related was 17.8 percent for boys and 8.8 percent for girls.
“It doesn’t mean girls don’t have TBI, it could be that their injuries are not recognized enough to bring them to the emergency department,” Joseph said.
Joseph said perhaps the most beneficial piece of the project is establishing relationships with other providers across the region that are now vested in the work and may be more likely to continue moving the agenda forward in concussion safety.
Other partners in the project include the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA), Baker County Hospital Authority, Baptist Health, Duval County Medical Society, the Florida Association of High School Athletics, Florida Hospital, Halifax Medical Center, Jacksonville Jaguars, Jacksonville Sports Medicine Program, Mayo Clinic, Memorial Health, Nemours Children’s Clinic, Orange Park Medical Center, St. Vincent’s Health, Wolfson Children’s Hospital, the University of North Florida and a local neuropsychologist.
Click to read the full report.
For more information, contact Joseph, CHEQR or the Health Planning Council of Northeast Florida.
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