Children With ADHD May Be More Likely to Report Concussion Symptoms

Children with ADHD who play sports may be more likely to report a greater number of concussion-like symptoms and perform worse on balance tests when administered a common concussion assessment than those who do not have ADHD, according to areport in theJournal of Pediatrics. Children in the study were assessed using the Child Sport Concussion Assessment Tool Fifth Edition (Child SCAT5).“These findings highlight the challenges of interpreting Child SCAT5 performance in children with ADHD following a concussion or suspected concussion and illustrate the value of administering the measure to children to document their pre-injury performance,” wrote Nathan Cook, Ph.D., of Harvard Medical School and colleagues. “[P]roviders using the Child SCAT5 following a concussion or suspected concussion should anticipate that children with ADHD are likely to endorse several symptoms when given concussion symptom rating scales and may also demonstrate balance weaknesses even if they hav e recovered or were never injured in the first place.”Cook and colleagues analyzed data obtained from a study of 464 middle school athletes aged 11 to 12, who received preseason testing with the Child SCAT5. Of the total sample, 28 (6%) children reported having been diagnosed with ADHD. For the study, the authors compared how 27 children with ADHD performed on the Child SCAT5 with those without ADHD who were of the same age and sex, played the same sport, and reported the same concussion history.The chi...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: ADHD balance Child SCAT5 Child Sport Concussion Assessment Tool Journal of Pediatrics Nathan Cook student athletes Source Type: research