title: The effects of a state concussion law on the frequency of sport-related concussions as seen in two emergency departments.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Connecticut (CT) passed its original sport-related concussion (SRC) law (PA 10-62) in 2010. The law requires that a health-care professional evaluate high school athletes with concussion symptoms. The purpose of this study was to evaluate two level 1 Trauma Center Emergency Department (ED) records for SRC before and after the Connecticut Public Act (CT PA) 10-62 to determine if the law had an effect on the presentation to the ED of SRCs.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective analysis of two level 1 Trauma Center Emergency Departments database was performed. Monthly data on SRCs treated in the study EDs from July 2003 through June 2012 were collected and analyzed using the autoregressive integrated moving average model. The number of SRCs in the youth (under age 14 years), high school (age 14 to 18 years), and adult (age >18 years) populations prior to CT PA 10-62 was compared to the number of SRCs post implementation of CT PA 10-62 for each academic school year, fall sports season, and summertime.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Monthly SRCs in high school students treated in the study EDs increased from 2.5 cases to 5.9 cases between pre and post implementation of CT PA 10-62 (p < 0.001). Statistical modeling revealed that implementation of CT PA 10-62 was associated with significantly increased SRCs treated in the study EDs and that the increase was limited to the high school students in the fall season and during the school year.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There has been a marked increase in the frequency of SRCs treated in the emergency departments in the high school population in Connecticut after the implementation of the sport-related concussion law. The results suggest that the sport-related concussion law in Connecticut is effective in improving the evaluation and detection of SRCs in high school students.
authors.affiliation: Division of Sports Medicine, Drexel University College of Medicine, 10 Shurs Lane, Philadelphia, PA, 19127, USA. Thomas.Trojian@Drexelmed.edu.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Trojian
authors.affiliation: Trauma Department, Yale-New Haven Hospital, 300 George Street, 4th Floor, Room 443, New Haven, CT, 06510, USA.|Injury Free Coalition for Kids of New Haven, Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital, 300 George St 4th Floor, Room 443, New Haven, CT, 06510, USA.
authors.forename: Pina
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Violano
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, Sports Concussion Program, UCHC, 263 Farmington Avenue, Farmington, CT, 06263, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hall
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Yale School of Medicine, 333 Cedar Street, New Haven, CT, 06510, USA.
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Duncan
keywords: CT Public Act 10-62; Concussion; Concussion law; Head injury; Sport-related concussion