P.087 “Reported Brain Injury” Time trends within two Canadian health surveys over two decades

Abstract

Background: An “epidemic” of concussions has been widely reported. We explored the annual incidence of reported concussion or other brain injury, over 20 years within Canada in order to explore the magnitude of this reported epidemic. Methods: Two Canadian nationally representative health surveys have serially collected injury data associated with disability. The National Population Health Survey (NPHS) (1994-9) collected data on “concussion”, and the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) (2000-current) has collected data on “concussion or other brain injury”. Data on respondents 12 years and older reporting concussion with or without other brain injury within the past year were examined in order to produce serial incidence data. Results: Nationally representative data were available biennially from 1994/95 through 2013/14 with the exception of 2007/08 and 2011/12. The incidence of reported concussions, or concussions and other brain injury has been stable until 2005/06 when the reported annual incidence started an upward slope to levels 250% higher (p<0.001) without any apparent stabilization by 2013/14, when approximately 1 in 200 Canadians 12 years and older report concussion or other brain injury as their most significant injury associated with disability in the previous 12 months. Conclusions: There is currently a pandemic of reported brain injury in Canada.