CDC's efforts to improve traumatic brain injury surveillance

Abstract

IntroductionYouth sports concussion has become a prominent public health issue due to growing concern about the risk of long-term health effects. MethodA broad spectrum of stakeholders has convened to propose solutions, including a committee of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) who systematically examined the issue and, in a 2014 report, made a series of recommendations to better address this public health problem. ResultsAmong these recommendations, the NAS committee called for CDC to develop a plan for a comprehensive surveillance system to better quantify the incidence and outcomes of youth sports concussion among children 5 to 21years of age. Since the release of the NAS report, CDC has taken action to address this recommendation and, in the process, develop strategies to improve traumatic brain injury (TBI) surveillance more broadly. The challenges outlined by the NAS committee with respect to producing comprehensive incidence estimates of youth sports concussion are not exclusive to youth sports concussion, but also apply to TBI surveillance overall. In this commentary, we will discuss these challenges, the process CDC has undertaken to address them and describe our plan for improving TBI and youth sports concussion surveillance.