'Reported concussion' time trends within two national health surveys over two decades

An 'epidemic' of concussions has been widely reported. We examined the annual incidence of reported concussion or other brain injury, over 20 years within Canada in order to explore the magnitude of this reported epidemic.

Two Canadian nationally representative health surveys have serially collected injury data associated with disability. The National Population Health Survey (NPHS) collected data on 'concussion' (1994-1999), and the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) collects data on 'concussion or other brain injury' (2000-current). Respondents 12 years and older reporting concussion or other brain injury occurring within the previous year were used to produce serial incidence data.

Nationally representative data were available biennially from 1994/95 through 2013/14 with the exception of 2007/08 and 2011/12. Reported incidence of concussions, or concussions and other brain injury has been stable until 2005/06 when the reported annual incidence started an upward slope to levels 250% higher without any apparent stabilization by 2013/14, at which time approximately 1 in 200 Canadians 12 years and older reported concussion or other brain injury as their most significant injury associated with disability in the previous year.

The current pandemic of reported brain injury in Canada will have implications for health-care delivery.