I have been fighting the labels and the distinctions about what you call the subtle damage to the mind as long as I have been an advocate. See my essay “Mind Damage” at http://tbilaw.com/essays.aaname.php Yet, according to new research, the labels make a huge difference in the perception of the severity of the injury.
According to this research, doctors apparently have to choose their words carefully when they’re talking to parents about their children’s head injuries. The study was published online this week by Pediatrics, the journal for the American Academy of Pediatrics. The study received a lot of play in the consumer press, with outlets such as The Los Angeles Times and UPI writing about it. See http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_shots/2010/01/you-say-concussion-i-say-brain-injury-lets-call-the-whole-thing-serious.html
The bottom line of the research was that when a physician uses the term “concussion” rather than “mild traumatic brain injury,” parents don’t seem to believe that their child’s brain has really been damaged.
The Pediatrics article was headlined “My Child Doesn’t Have a Brain Injury, He Only Has a Concussion.” http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/peds.2008-2720v1
The research, conducted at McMaster Children’s Hospital in Canada by McMaster University, noted that doctors may choose to use “the concussion label” because it’s less alarming than the term mild brain injury. But the word “concussion” seems to imply to the parents that the injury is not serious and will have no long-term consequences for their child, the study found. Yet it’s known that’s not the case.
“Our study suggests that if a child is given a diagnosis of a concussion, the family is less likely to consider it an actual injury to the brain,” the study’s lead author, Carol DeMatteo, said in a press release on the research. “These children may be sent back to school or allowed to return to activity sooner, and maybe sooner than they should. This just puts them at greater risk for a second injury, poor school performance, and wondering what is wrong with them.”
Children diagnosed with a concussion were released earlier from the hospital, and returned to school quicker, according to the study. Yet it’s known that concussions can have serious after effects, including depression, memory issues and headaches. And returning to former activities, such as sports, before the brain damage of a concussion has healed can lead to dire health problems.
The concussion diagnosis was “significantly more likely” when the computed-tomography results were normal and the child had lost consciousness, according to the study.
The takeaway has to be that physicians should not be too quick to label a child as having a concussion, even if it is a less worrisome term than mile TBI.
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