06/01/2025
Ottawa, Ontario — Monday January 6, 2025
The way in which a child gets a concussion does not impact their recovery from symptoms. New findings published in Jama Network show that whether a child has sustained a sport-related concussion or a non-sport-related concussion (excluding motor vehicle accidents and assault) does not change their recovery and should be managed similarly.
The multi-center cohort study followed 1,747 children ages 5 to 12 who presented at Canadian pediatric emergency departments with an acute concussion to see whether recovery management should look different for those who became who sustained concussion through sport versus another way.
“There isn’t much research on how young children recover after a concussion. It’s still unclear if kids recover the same way from concussions caused by sports compared to those from other activities, like slipping on the ice.” shared Dr. Andrée-Anne Ledoux, Scientist at the CHEO Research Institute and Assistant Professor for the Cellular Molecular Medicine Department at the University of Ottawa, “Our findings help inform health care providers and parents with the knowledge and tools to ensure children are receiving the best symptom management no matter how they sustained a concussion.”
Children were classified as having a sport-related concussion if their concussion occurred while playing a sport of any kind, contact or non-contact, including organized team sports or recreational sports and recess sports. Children were classified as having a non-sport-related concussion if their concussion occurred outside of sport or recreation settings, such as falls. Those injured in motor vehicle crashes or assaults were not included in the analysis.
In children aged 5 to 7 years with a sport-related concussion, 111 (53.6%) sustained their concussion in non-contact sports, 44 (21.3%) in limited-contact or limited-impact sports, and 52 (25.1%) in contact or collision sports. The most prevalent injury settings were recreational play or recess, soccer, hockey, and tobogganing or sledding.
In children aged 8 to 12 years with a sport-related concussion, 176 (22.3%) sustained their concussion in non-contact sports, 229 (29.0%) in limited-contact sports, and 385 (48.7%) in collision sports. The most prevalent injury settings were hockey, recreational play, soccer, snowboarding, basketball, and football.
Over time, findings showed that there were no significant differences in recovery between children who sustained a sport-related concussion versus a non-sport-related concussion. Furthermore, the study also showed that of the children whose concussion was sport-related, the type of sport they were playing at the time (contact, non-contact, limited-impact, etc.) did not affect the course of their recovery either.
Better understanding of concussions and recovery characteristics for children is critical as the developing brain is more vulnerable to injury, and the structure of the brain and neural tissue can change the way an injury affects a child. Up until now, the vast majority of research on the topic has focused on adolescents and young adults in sports as opposed to younger children and continued research is needed.