Concussion Rates Among Teens Rise Despite Safety Programs

Concussion rates among young athletes have increased each year by about 16 percent, according to MomsTeam.com. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an estimated 2.7 million children aged 19 and younger were treated annually in emergency departments for sports and recreation-related injuries from 2001-2009. About 6.5 percent or 173,285 of those injuries were traumatic brain injuries, including concussions. And the number of sports and recreation-related traumatic brain injury visits to the emergency room increased 62 percent with the highest rates among males aged 10-19 years, the CDC reported. “Each year, I have seen an increase in concussions involving high school athletes,’’ said Dr. David Wang, medical director of Elite Sports Medicine and the team physician for Quinnipiac University.