The percentage of Illinois children diagnosed with concussions climbed by a whopping 83 percent between 2010 and 2015 as awareness of head injuries grew, according to new data released by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois.
Concussions for Blue Cross members ages 10 through 19 jumped from a rate of 7.6 per 1,000 members in 2010 to 14 per 1,000 members in 2015.
Blue Cross is the state’s largest insurer with more than 8 million members.
Dr. Stephanie Vomvouras, senior medical director for Blue Cross, attributed the increase to greater awareness of concussions.
“The awareness is really good news because if people are aware of what concussions are, they know when to pull kids out of sports, have them stand on the sidelines or see a health care provider, then they’re more likely to recover from their concussions,” Vomvouras said.
Concussions often are caused by a fall or blow to the head or body. Most people with concussions return to health quickly, but recovery can be slower for children, young teens and older adults, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Symptoms can include difficulty thinking clearly, headache, blurry vision, irritability or unusual sleepiness.
Not surprisingly, fall is the peak time for concussion diagnoses among children across the country, according to the insurer. In recent years, the risk of head injuries in football has gained national attention.
The numbers released by Blue Cross on Tuesday are consistent with what Dr. Cynthia LaBella said she’s seeing in her clinic. LaBella is medical director at the Institute for Sports Medicine at Lurie Children’s Hospital.
“The general public is just much more aware of this injury, how it happens, what are the signs and symptoms, and that it’s very important to get it checked out by a physician before you resume physical activities such as contact sports that might result in another hit to the head,” LaBella said.
If a child is hit in the head again before fully recovering from a concussion, there’s a greater risk of long-term problems, she said.
The Blue Cross numbers also show that a state law passed in 2011 is working, said LaBella, who was involved with the law’s passage and recent changes that broadened it to also cover younger students and students at more types of schools.
The original law required that any public high school student-athlete suspected of having a concussion be pulled from practices and games until a licensed health professional gives written clearance for a return. Changes passed last year now require schools to have “return-to-play” and “return-to-learn” protocols.
A National Federation of State High School Associations rule also requires schools to remove students from games if they show signs of a head injury, and has required that since 2010, said Kurt Gibson, associate executive director for the Illinois High School Association.
Over the last six years, game officials have reported that 1,560 students have been removed from games in Illinois because of possible head injuries, he said. Most of those students then stayed out of the games, and those who returned were given clearance by health care providers who were at the events, Gibson said.
He said the association is hearing reports of more students pulled out of games each year.
“They’re getting people off the field and getting them looked at in a greater fashion than we were seeing in the first few years of the rule,” Gibson said.
Illinois Department of Public Health data also show an increase in the number of concussions for children ages 10 to 19 between 2010 and 2015, though its data are limited to concussions diagnosed during hospital visits.
According to those figures, 8,198 Illinois children ages 10 to 19 were diagnosed with concussions in hospitals in 2015, up from 6,538 diagnoses in 2010.
LaBella cautioned that not all concussions are from football or even sports. She said about 40 to 45 percent of the children she sees in her clinic got concussions from activities other than sports.
According to the Blue Cross data, the increase in concussion diagnoses among children in Illinois was particularly pronounced compared with the nation as a whole, though the nationwide rate is still higher than Illinois’.
Nationally, the rate of concussion diagnoses for children increased by 71 percent, from 8.9 per 1,000 members in 2010 to 15.2 per 1,000 members in 2015, according to Blue Cross.
lschencker@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @lschencker
