concussion Archives - News@91��ɫ

Study provides insight on medical attention sought by children from lower socio-economic backgrounds

egamulin — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 18:37:49 +0000

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Underserved youth less likely to visit emergency department for concussion in Ontario, study finds

egamulin — Fri, 11 Jul 2025 14:00:12 +0000

Toronto, ON, July 11, 2025 — A new study finds socioeconomic disparities in rates of emergency department (ED) visits for concussion among children and youth.

Researchers from ICES, 91��ɫ, Toronto Metropolitan University, and the University of Calgary found an increase in ED visits for concussion among all age groups prior to the pandemic, with the biggest increase among older children and teens (ages 10 to 19 years). However, children in the highest socioeconomic status group accounted for significantly more concussion-related ED visits than children in the lowest socioeconomic status group.

Lead author 91��ɫ Prof. Alison Macpherson.

“These trends are concerning, and flag a potential issue of equity among youth who may not have access to the same protocols and support for concussion care that we see in higher income populations,” says lead author , a professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Science at 91��ɫ and senior adjunct scientist at ICES.��

The study, published in the , analyzed data for all Ontario ED visits for children and adolescents (ages 0 – 19 years old) with a diagnosis of concussion between 2010 and 2020. Socioeconomic status was assessed using categories of household material deprivation, which includes low income, unemployment, single parent families, parents without a high school diploma, and living in dwellings in need of major repair. The data were analyzed by age and sex.

There was a rise in concussion-related ED visits for all age groups. The 10-14 and 15-19 age groups had the greatest increases, from 350 and 382 per 100,000 in 2010 to 737 and 872 per 100,000 in 2019, respectively.

Further, rates among children with the lowest socioeconomic status rose from 36.7 in 2010 to 43.3 in 2020, compared to 62.6 and 61.8 for children in the highest socioeconomic status group.

While a large proportion of concussions are related to sports, which may be inaccessible to children with lower socioeconomic status, the socioeconomic gradient remained in 2020 when most organized sports were put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is unlikely that sport participation is the only reason for the differences and there may be systemic barriers to concussion diagnoses.

The researchers suggest that reasons for lower rates of emergency department use among children and youth from low socioeconomic populations could be children’s distance to hospitals, lack of information about concussion, and language or cultural barriers.

This is one of the first large, population-based studies to reveal an association between socioeconomic status and emergency department visits for concussion, while also showing changes in concussion visits over time, analyzed by age and sex. One limitation is that concussions may have been underrepresented if children did not seek medical attention for their injury, or if they saw a family doctor or other health care provider instead of visiting the ED. The researchers note that further study is needed to understand the full scope of concussion-related healthcare utilization.

“It’s important that policy-makers, school boards, and coaches and teachers are aware of the socioeconomic differences in concussion-related emergency visits, so that they consider equity when creating policies about concussion and when delivering concussion prevention programs,” says senior author Linda Rothman, an associate professor for the School of Occupational and Public Health at Toronto Metropolitan University.��

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: &�Բ��;

Emina Gamulin
91��ɫ Media Relations and External Communications
egamulin@yorku.ca
437-217-6362��

Misty Pratt
Senior Communications Associate, ICES
Media@ices.on.ca
343-961-6982��

Michelle LePage
PR and Communications Specialist, Toronto Metropolitan University
michelle.lepage@torontomu.ca

91��ɫ  is a modern, multi-campus, urban university located in Toronto, Ontario. Backed by a diverse group of students, faculty, staff, alumni and partners, we bring a uniquely global perspective to help solve societal challenges, drive positive change, and prepare our students for success. 91��ɫ’s fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario’s Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education. 91��ɫ’s campuses in Costa Rica and India offer students exceptional transnational learning opportunities and innovative programs. Together, we can make things right for our communities, our planet, and our future.  ��

��䷡�� is an independent, not-for-profit research and analytics institute that uses population-based health information to produce knowledge on a broad range of healthcare issues. ICES leads cutting-edge studies and analyses evaluating healthcare policy, delivery, and population outcomes. Our knowledge is highly regarded in Canada and abroad and is widely used by government, hospitals, planners, and practitioners to make decisions about healthcare delivery and to develop policy. For the latest ICES news, follow us on BlueSky and LinkedIn: @ICESOntario

Toronto Metropolitan University is a world-class research institution and Canada’s leader in innovative, career-oriented education. TMU offers more than 60 undergraduate programs, over 65 graduate programs, and 80 continuing education certificate programs. The university boasts ten faculties, including the Lincoln Alexander School of Law and the new TMU School of Medicine, which is launching in September 2025. Established in 1948, TMU is home to nearly 48,000 students, including 2,900 master’s and PhD students, 4,000 faculty and staff, and over 245,000 alumni worldwide. For more information, visit torontomu.ca.

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What will additions to Rowan’s Law mean for concussion safety this fall?

roshanp — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 14:09:29 +0000

TORONTO, August 27, 2019��– This fall will be the first full school year where parents, coaches and officials will be required to sign a concussion code of conduct and review concussion awareness resources as a result of additions to . The law passed last year, mandates the removal from sport and return to sport protocols for concussions and the new protocols, which came into effect on July 1, provide rules of behaviour to minimize concussions while playing sports.

Recently, the provincial government also included concussion awareness in its updated curriculum for schools which now includes lessons on concussion safety starting in Grade 1. ��According to statistics from the , there were approximately 46,000 diagnosed concussions in 2016-17 by hospital emergency departments for children and youth 5-19 years of age. Moreover, have little or no��knowledge about concussion and only 4 in 10 are aware��of available concussion tools or resources.

, a professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Sciences, has led several studies on concussion in athletes and young children. ��Macpherson researches ways to help kids stay active and safe, whether playing on the hockey rink, walking to school, or riding in the backseat of a car.�� by Macpherson and her team influenced Hockey Canada’s previous decision to change the age at which body checking is introduced. Her expertise in injury prevention is helping to shape child safety policy in Canada.

Professor Macpherson is available for interviews and can speak about:

How will the latest changes to the curriculum and Rowan’s Law impact concussion awareness?
Do certain sports carry a greater risk of getting a concussion than others?
How does Rowan’s Law impact guidelines around concussions today?
Will signing a concussion code of conduct and review of concussion awareness resources impact awareness of safety?

91��ɫ champions new ways of thinking that drive teaching and research excellence. Through cross-disciplinary programming, innovative course design, diverse experiential learning and a supportive community environment, our students receive the education they need to create big ideas that make an impact on the world. Located in Toronto, 91��ɫ is the third largest university in Canada, with a strong community of 53,000 students, 7,000 faculty and administrative staff, and more than 300,000 alumni. 91��ɫ U's fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education.

Media Contact:��Anjum Nayyar, 91��ɫ Media Relations, 416 736 2100 ext. 44543 or ��anayyar@yorku.ca

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What will additions to Rowan’s Law mean for concussion safety this fall?

roshanp — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 14:09:29 +0000

Professor Macpherson is available for interviews and can speak about:

How will the latest changes to the curriculum and Rowan’s Law impact concussion awareness?
Do certain sports carry a greater risk of getting a concussion than others?
How does Rowan’s Law impact guidelines around concussions today?
Will signing a concussion code of conduct and review of concussion awareness resources impact awareness of safety?

Media Contact:��Anjum Nayyar, 91��ɫ Media Relations, 416 736 2100 ext. 44543 or ��anayyar@yorku.ca

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91��ɫ U concussion research shows lasting brain damage in elite level athletes

roshanp — Wed, 21 Sep 2016 14:41:56 +0000

TORONTO, September 21, 2016: 91��ɫ concussion experts report that young elite level athletes, who have suffered from a concussion, may have lingering neurological consequences that affect their movement control.

While young athletes typically go back as players after a few weeks, researchers at say these athletes may in fact have sustained neurological deficits that are not detected using standard clinical assessments.

led the research at the School of Kinesiology and Health Science with doctoral candidate Johanna Hurtubise. It is their first study looking at asymptomatic elite-level athletes who are National Hockey League draft prospects with a history of concussion, and shows that even in this group there is a small amount of impairment.

The research studied the prolonged difficulty in cognitive-motor integration in 51 athletes with a history of concussion who were asymptomatic and medically cleared of concussion. Their performance was compared with 51 who have never had a concussion.

Participants in both the groups were asked to perform two different tasks on a dual-touchscreen laptop. In one task, target location and motor action were aligned. In the other task that tested cognitive-motor integration, the required movement was not aligned with the guiding visual target and required simultaneous thinking for successful performance. The goal was to determine whether young, elite level athletes with a history of concussion exhibited impairments. When athletes had to ‘think and move at the same time’, the delay was approximately 50 milliseconds, however, Sergio says this could be the difference between getting hit on the ice or not.

“We expected their motor skill reserve to accommodate for their concussion history. We never suspected that this test would pick up a delayed reaction time the way it did when we used it previously on non-elite athletes.” said Sergio. “We propose that this type of testing (cognitive-motor integration or CMI) is useful as a return-to-play assessment.”

Sergio added that standard tests used today only look at cognitive and motor tasks as separate tasks and do not combine the two, which could explain why they passed current tests.

“To be successful in many sports, a player must apply a wide range of cognitive factors to each of their movements within the game. For example, movements must be made in the context of game-related rules, spatial information regarding the locations of other players and prior knowledge of how to best accomplish a given task,” said Sergio. “In hockey, an example would be passing to one’s teammate on the left, while looking and attempting to avoid a body check from an opponent on one’s right.”

Sergio says these results suggest that the current return to play assessments – in which thinking and moving are tested separately – do not fully capture the functional disability of a concussion and therefore future research focusing on their integration (CMI tasks) is needed.

“There is a need to better understand the underlying mechanisms and ��motor behavioural effects of concussion. From a practical standpoint, such an understanding would inform clinicians, charged with making return to play decisions, about the potential for increased vulnerability post- concussion.”

The study, “,” is published in Future Science journal .

��is known for championing new ways of thinking that drive teaching and research excellence. Our students receive the education they need to create big ideas that make an impact on the world. Meaningful and sometimes unexpected careers result from cross-discipline programming, innovative course design and diverse experiential learning opportunities. 91��ɫ students and graduates push limits, achieve goals and find solutions to the world’s most pressing social challenges, empowered by a strong community that opens minds. 91��ɫ U is an internationally recognized research university – our 11 faculties and 26 research centres have partnerships with 200+ leading universities worldwide. Located in Toronto, 91��ɫ is the third largest university in Canada, with a strong community of 53,000 students, 7,000 faculty and administrative staff, and more than 295,000 alumni.

Media Contact:
Anjum Nayyar, 91��ɫ, Media Relations, 416-736-2100 ext. 44543, anayyar@yorku.ca

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Children, youth take longer to fully recover from concussion: 91��ɫ U study

roshanp — Mon, 16 May 2016 19:10:39 +0000

TORONTO, May 16, 2016 – 91��ɫ concussion experts report that children and youth take longer to fully recover from a concussion than previously thought.

After a concussion, young athletes usually rejoin their teams in a few weeks if they do not have any active symptoms. However, it might take up to two years to fully recover from the injury before they can play as skillfully as their teammates with no history of concussion, according Professor Lauren Sergio in the Faculty of Health.

“Performing motor tasks, guided by what we see, is crucial in skill-based activities such as sports,” says Sergio. “But the current return to sport assessment doesn’t test to see if the injured person has regained this ability. Because of this often children and youth who have had a concussion end up returning to normal activities before they are fully recovered. We believe this makes them more vulnerable to another concussion.”

The findings indicate that those in the age group of eight and 16 are not only vulnerable to concussions, but because their brain is still developing, they are neurologically more fragile than adults for performing tasks that require cognitive motor integration following a concussion.

The latest research at Sergio’s lab studied the prolonged difficulty in cognitive-motor integration in 50 children and adolescents with a history of concussion. Their performance was compared with 49 who have never had a concussion.

Participants in both the groups were asked to perform two different tasks on a dual-touchscreen laptop. In one task target location and motor action were aligned. In the other task that tested cognitive-motor integration, the required movement was not aligned with the guiding visual target and required simultaneous thinking for successful performance.

“We noticed significant difficulty in completing the tasks among those with concussion history,” says Marc Dalecki, postdoctoral candidate and lead author. “In fact, it took many of the children two years after the concussion to have a similar performance on the task as children who did not have a history of concussion.”

The study, “," published in Future Science journal, .

is known for championing new ways of thinking that drive teaching and research excellence. Our 52,000 students receive the education they need to create big ideas that make an impact on the world. Meaningful and sometimes unexpected careers result from cross-discipline programming, innovative course design and diverse experiential learning opportunities. 91��ɫ students and graduates push limits, achieve goals and find solutions to the world’s most pressing social challenges, empowered by a strong community that opens minds. 91��ɫ U is an internationally recognized research university – our 11 faculties and 24 research centres have partnerships with 200+ leading universities worldwide.

Media Contact:
Gloria Suhasini, 91��ɫ Media Relations, 416 736 2100 ext. 22094, suhasini@yorku.ca

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