Congress Hears Testimony on Concussions in Student Athletes

Recent research and media coverage highlighting long-term cognitive and emotional problems in professional athletes have raised worries about the potential effects of head injuries in student athletes. Today, the U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor held a hearing to find out what's known about the impact such playing-field injuries may have on a student athlete's performance in the classroom.

Last year, Congress asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate, and at today's hearing, GAO's director of health care issues, Linda Kohn, summarized their findings. In a nutshell, they found that data collection and guidelines on concussions in student athletes are scattershot. Three national databases collect information on the prevalence of concussions, for example, but their differing methodologies make it difficult to come up with a nationwide figure. (In his opening statement, committee chair George Miller (D–CA), apparently citing a 2009 study, estimated that 400,000 high school athletes suffered concussions between 2005 and 2008.)

Gerard Gioia, the chief of pediatric neuropsychology at the Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., testified that the true number of concussions is probably much higher, given the reluctance of many athletes to report an injury that might result in being sidelined. The brain takes weeks to months to recover from a concussion, and learning and memory are impaired during that time, Gioia said. (Whether those short-term deficits translate to long-term academic impairments is an understudied question.) Moreover, trying to concentrate on school work can worsen concussion symptoms such as dizziness, headaches, and mood swings. A recent study at Children's NationalHospital found that 80% of concussed student athletes experienced a worsening of symptoms as they attempted school work in the first 4 weeks after their injury, Gioia told the committee. Better prevention, earlier identification and treatment, and more widespread training for coaches, teachers, and other school personnel are needed to minimize the academic impact of sports injuries, he said.