Teens With History of Concussions at High Risk For Depression, Study

Teens with a history of concussion are more susceptible to depression, claims a new finding.

According to a report documented in the Journal of Adolescent Health, teens with a history of concussion, a mild traumatic brain injury, should be screened for depression as they are three times more likely to suffer from depression as teens. The researchers for the study examined data from the 2007-2008 National Survey of Children's Health.

The short-lived loss of memory function is called as concussion that occurs due to head injury. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that every year in the United Sates over 3.8 million sports-related and recreation-related concussions take place. Every 21 seconds a mild brain trauma occurs in the country. Hence it is crucial to trace the long-term effects of concussion.

The data was based on the health information retrieved from more than 36,000 adolescents belonging to the age group 12-17. In the study group nearly 2.7 percent had concussion and nearly 3.4 percent of them had a current depression diagnosis.

"Teens who were 15 years or older, lived in poverty or who had a parent with mental health problems were more likely to be depressed than other teens," said lead study author Sara Chrisman, M.D., a pediatrician at Seattle Children's Hospital. "But what was surprising was when we took those factors into consideration, it didn't take away from the association between depression and a history of concussion."

The study researchers state that it is not clearly evident what triggers a high rate of depression in teens with a history of concussion. Whether it is the brain injury, the social isolation, doctors mistaking symptoms of concussion for depression or it could be the multiple medical visits for concussion itself.

The research also discovered that nearly 10 percent of the kids suffered a full depressive disorder or subclinical depressive disorder almost 6 months after suffering from concussion, explains Jeffrey Max, M.D., a psychiatrist at the University of California, San Diego.

Kids with history of concussion are prone to suffer from attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and find it challenging to control their moods mostly anger.