Concussion Exposure and Increased Depression Risk — Presentation Detail — Celebration of Scholars

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Additional Information

More information is available at carthage.edu/celebration-scholars/. The following are members of the Research, Scholarship, and Creativity Committee who are eager to listen to ideas and answer questions:

Jun Wang
Kim Instenes
John Kirk
Nora Nickels
Andrew Pustina
James Ripley

Concussion Exposure and Increased Depression Risk

Name: Hannah Midlock
Major: Athletic Training
Hometown: Joliet, IL
Faculty Sponsor: Ashley Greenwood ’14
Other Sponsors: Daniel Ruffner, Laurie Jensen
Type of research: Course project

Abstract

Concussions and Depression

A concussion is a subset of mild traumatic brain injuries defined in 2012 by the Zurich Guidelines as a “complex pathophysiological process affecting the brain, induced by biomechanical forces.”1 3.8 million people are diagnosed with a concussion each year, with the majority of these individuals being concussed from athletics. The depression rate is highest in 18-25-year-olds, at 13.1% prevalence-increasing from years prior. This led to the formation of the question, “Does exposure to concussions in DIII athletics increase the risk of depression?” Recent studies have been conducted amongst professional and retired professional football athletes where results illustrated small correlations between the number of previous concussions sustained and an increase in depression symptoms. For this literature review, a sample of articles were collected using search engines such as PubMed and Cochrane using the keywords: concussion, depression, and DIII athletics. A total of fifteen studies are included in the literature review. The studies assessed mental health post-concussion with information from multiple data collection types, including self-report, magnetic resonance imaging, and mental health assessment tools. All participants were diagnosed with a concussion by a healthcare provider, such as a certified athletic trainer or a physician. Results of prior research show a significant correlation between concussions and depression in professional football athletes. There is a lack of research within the division III athletic setting, which gives opportunity to examine this question further.

1.Paul McCrory, Willem H. Meeuwisse, Mark Aubry, Robert C. Cantu, Jiři Dvořák, Ruben J. Echemendia, Lars Engebretsen, Karen Johnston, Jeffrey S. Kutcher, Martin Raftery, Allen Sills, Brian W. Benson, Gavin A. Davis, Richard Ellenbogen, Kevin M. Guskiewicz, Stanley A. Herring, Grant L. Iverson, Barry D. Jordan, James Kissick, Michael McCrea, Andrew S. McIntosh, David Maddocks, Michael Makdissi, Laura Purcell, Margot Putukian, Kathryn Schneider, Charles H. Tator, Michael Turner; Consensus Statement on Concussion in Sport: The 4th International Conference on Concussion in Sport, Zurich, November 2012. J Athl Train 1 July 2013; 48 (4): 554–575. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4085/1062-6050-48.4.05

Poster file