Study finds that concussion increases odds of poor mental health and suicidal behaviors in adolescents
By Audrey Schwartz. This article was initially published in our Concussion Update newsletter; please consider subscribing.
A study conducted by Jacob Kay et al. found that male and female teenagers who reported a history of concussion in the last year were at greater risk of suicidal ideation, planning, and attempts than those who had not sustained a concussion in the previous year. The research also revealed that males who experienced two or more concussions in the last year were twice as likely to report suicidal attempts than males who reported a single concussion, though this finding did not apply to females. The retrospective cross-sectional study, published in the Journal of Athletic Training, studied data from the 2017 and 2019 National Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, examining a sample of 17,397 United States high school students.
Lead study author Jacob Kay warned in an article for NPR that we cannot make conclusions about causation because the survey did not ask about the timings of events. Kay stated, “We can’t draw any kind of timeline on when these behaviors happen, so we can’t say that the concussion occurred before these observed suicidal behaviors, or vice versa.” Regarding the findings, however, Kay, in a press release for EurekAlert!, stated that the study “highlights the importance of evaluating mental health among both male and female youth that have sustained a concussion. This is particularly true for those who have sustained multiple concussions in a short time.”
Furthermore, in an article for NPR, co-author Stephen Broglio warned that “making sure a teen isn’t isolated after sustaining a concussion is critical.” He suggests that parents should keep an eye on their children post-concussion, advising, “if you have any suspicion that they aren’t progressing the way that you think they should - they’re showing signs of depression, they’re starting to feel withdrawn - this is very treatable. … depression is a very treatable condition. And we can stave off some of these tragic outcomes that we reported on.”
