20% of adolescents suffered Traumatic Brain Injury in their lifetime and 5.6% suffered TBI in the last 12 months

Prevalence of Traumatic Brain Injury among adolescents may be much higher than previously known according to an innovative study that focuses on 7-12 grades students and include all self-reported TBIs. Previous studies have been mostly based on hospital records leaving many head injuries uncounted because they were not reported to parents, teachers, sports coaches or health care workers.

The study from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health contains responses from almost 9,000 students from Grades 7-12 in publicly funded schools across Ontario and is published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The report shows that approximately half of traumatic brain injuries happened during sport activities and also links alcohol and cannabis consumption as well as low grades to a higher risk of traumatic brain Injury.