Study: Concussions affect teen brains differently

Teenage brains are different, in part due to the massive neurological reorganization that occurs between the ages of 12 and 25. This wiring upgrade may be the reason their brains handle concussions differently than do children or adults.

A recent study found teenagers also suffer greater symptoms than any other age group.

These kinds of injuries mostly affect their working memory – the brain function that enables us to process and store short-term information and that is essential for activities such as reading and mental calculation.

“The frontal regions of the brain are more vulnerable to concussions. These areas oversee executive functions responsible for planning, organizing and managing information.

During adolescence, these functions are developing rapidly which makes them more fragile to stress and trauma,” explained study author Dr. Dave Ellemberg, a professor at the University of Montreal's Department of Kinesiology.

Nevertheless, the research also shows that a first concussion will result in six months to a year of neurophysiological side effects for adolescents, adults and children alike. In addition to the working memory, the ability to sustain attention and focus is also affected. The study is the first of its kind to measure the impact of sport-related concussions on children. It is also the first to compare the consequences of the trauma on three different age groups.

"Contrary to the belief by some parents and coaches that children can play through a concussion because their brains are more resilient, we find that children are more vulnerable to the effects of a brain injury than adults," said Ellemberg.

The study was published Feb. 28 in the journal Brain Injury.

"It's not that surprising," Ellemberg noted. "We know the adolescent's brain, more specifically the areas affected by the concussion, the frontal lobe areas of the brain, are growing in spurts and when something is developing rapidly it is even more fragile to injury."

Ninety-six male athletes who suffered a concussion three to six months previously, participated in the study. The athletes took neuropsychological tests used by the U.S. National Hockey League to measure thinking speed and memory and were also tested using an electroencephalogram (EEG). The electrophysical test measures electrical activity in the brain and is considered more sensitive than the neuropsychological tests.

“The traditional tests are very efficient to determine the immediate impacts of concussions, but aren’t as reliable as electrophysiology to pick up on long-term side effects,” Ellemberg said. “Electrophysiology allows us to see the response from the athlete and from his or her neurons which are sometimes independent from one another. Therefore, certain participants showed weakness during certain electrophysiological tasks that the neuropsychological tests hadn’t picked up on.”

Results indicated that among teens, all showed injurious effects on the electrophysical test, including short-term working memory problems that lasted six months to a year.

"You typically have to wait for a couple of days, or even weeks, after the injury to see the symptoms," Ellemberg explained. "Concussions are severe, and do have consequences. We need to have a systematic system to evaluate these children," according to HealthDay.

“For a long time, we believed that the brain of a child was more plastic and could therefore better recover from an accident or stress,” says Ellemberg. “In recent years, we’ve realized that quite to the contrary, a child’s brain is more vulnerable. Our research shows that children are as afflicted as adults by a concussion.”

Source; Newswise -- February 28, 2012

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