Open AccessRecognizing the Symptoms of Mental Illness following Concussions in the Sports Community: A Need for Improvement
Author(s) -
Jane Topolovec-Vranic,
Stanley Zhang,
Hung Wong,
Emily Lam,
Rowan Jing,
Kelly Russell,
Michael D. Cusimano
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0141699
Subject(s) - concussion , mental health , medicine , occupational safety and health , athletes , suicide prevention , injury prevention , poison control , cognition , cross sectional study , human factors and ergonomics , family medicine , psychiatry , physical therapy , environmental health , pathology
Objective To evaluate the awareness of concussion-related symptoms amongst members of the sports community in Canada. Methods A cross-sectional national electronic survey was conducted. Youth athletes, parents, coaches and medical professionals across Canada were recruited through mailing lists from sports-related opt-in marketing databases. Participants were asked to identify, from a list of options, the symptoms of a concussion. The proportion of identified symptoms (categorized as physical, cognitive, mental health-related and overall) as well as participant factors associated with symptom recognition were analyzed. Results The survey elicited 6,937 responses. Most of the respondents (92.1%) completed the English language survey, were male (57.7%), 35–54 years of age (61.7%), with post-secondary education (58.2%), or high reported yearly household income (>$80,000; 53.0%). There were respondents from all provinces and territories with the majority of respondents from Ontario (35.2%) or British Columbia (19.1%). While participants identified most of the physical (mean = 84.2% of symptoms) and cognitive (mean = 91.2% of symptoms), they on average only identified 53.5% of the mental health-related symptoms of concussions. Respondents who were older, with higher education and household income, or resided in the Northwest Territories or Alberta identified significantly more of the mental health-related symptoms listed. Interpretation While Canadian youth athletes, parents, coaches and medical professionals are able to identify most of the physical and cognitive symptoms associated with concussion, identification of mental health-related symptoms of concussion is still lagging.