Pediatric concussion characteristics differ based on age

To determine differences in mechanism of injury and initial symptomatology of pediatric concussions across different age ranges.

Information was collected on concussion patients presenting to orthopedic clinics in a tertiary children's hospital system including mechanism of injury, symptoms, and demographic information. Patients were grouped by age: 0-7, 8-12 and 13+ years and compared using Kruskal-Wallis for continuous variables and Fisher's exact test for categorical variables.

Three hundred and thirty-three patients (381 concussions) were included in the study. The proportion of males decreased in older age groups (p = 0.007). When comparing age groups, more patients were injured through non-sports mechanisms at younger ages (p < 0.001). For symptoms reported at time of initial presentation, older age groups reported more headache, neck pain, sensitivity to sound, feeling slowed down, difficulty remembering, fogginess, and low energy (p < 0.05).

The results build on previous studies showing that younger pediatric patients sustain concussions mostly from non-sports mechanisms and endorse fewer symptoms which could be due to lower severity of injury and/or primarily relying on parent reporting of observable concussion symptoms. Pediatric concussion mechanism and presentation differ across ages, emphasizing the importance of age-appropriate symptom checklists and assessing for non-observable symptoms to ensure accurate diagnosis and management in pediatric populations.