title: Concussive head injury in children and adolescents related to sports and other leisure physical activities.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare the characteristics of children and adolescents with concussive head injury (CHI) sustained during organised sports or other leisure physical activity.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a case series study reviewing the medical records retrospectively over a four year period of children 6-16 years presenting to the emergency department with a CHI after participating in sport and/or recreation activity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 592 cases of sport and recreation related concussion over the study period (2000-2003). Most of the patients (n = 424, 71.6%) were male, with half (n = 304, 51.4%) being older than 10 years of age. A total of 152 (25.7%) cases of CHI were related to playing sports. Most cases (71.2%) were mild concussion. The cause of injury was a fall (n = 322, 54.4%) or a collision. Nearly a quarter of the children (n = 143, 24.2%) were admitted to hospital, with imaging performed in 134 (22.7%). Most children were treated appropriately and no adverse events were reported.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A severe CHI in a child is six times more likely to have resulted from organised sport than from other leisure physical activities. Outcomes for CHI in children is excellent, although their management places a considerable burden on emergency services. The need for activity restriction and the benefits of this in reducing long term cognitive effects of CHI are uncertain.
authors.affiliation: The Children's Hospital at Westmead, CHISM, Sydney, NSW 2145, Australia. garyb@chw.edu.au
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Browne
authors.forename: L T
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Lam
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000150:complications*; D001924:Brain Concussion / Q000209:etiology*; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D008297:Male; D009517:New South Wales; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D012189:Retrospective Studies