Emergency departments are seeing fewer sports-related TBI visits

There has been a smaller proportion of kids going to the emergency department for sports-related traumatic brain injuries, according to new CDC data. Between 2012-2018, the rate of visits to EDs for sports-related TBIs in those younger than 17 declined by 27%, largely because the rate of such visits from contact sports declined by 32%. Among those who visited EDs for TBIs from contact sports in 2018, nearly three-quarters were for injuries sustained while playing because of football, followed by basketball and soccer. And although sports-related TBIs increased among both males and females between 2001-2012, the rate has dropped by more than 30% in both groups since.