TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2015//
TI  - Recognizing the symptoms of mental illness following concussions in the sports community: a need for improvement
JO  - PLoS one
A1  - Topolovec-Vranic, Jane
A1  - Zhang, Stanley
A1  - Wong, Hatty
A1  - Lam, Emily
A1  - Jing, Rowan
A1  - Russell, Kelly
A1  - Cusimano, Michael D.
SP  - e0141699
EP  - e0141699
VL  - 10
IS  - 11
N2  - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the awareness of concussion-related symptoms amongst members of the sports community in Canada. <br><br>METHODS: A cross-sectional national electronic survey was conducted. Youth athletes, parents, coaches and medical professionals across Canada were recruited through mailing lists from sports-related opt-in marketing databases. Participants were asked to identify, from a list of options, the symptoms of a concussion. The proportion of identified symptoms (categorized as physical, cognitive, mental health-related and overall) as well as participant factors associated with symptom recognition were analyzed. <br><br>RESULTS: The survey elicited 6,937 responses. Most of the respondents (92.1%) completed the English language survey, were male (57.7%), 35-54 years of age (61.7%), with post-secondary education (58.2%), or high reported yearly household income (>$80,000; 53.0%). There were respondents from all provinces and territories with the majority of respondents from Ontario (35.2%) or British Columbia (19.1%). While participants identified most of the physical (mean = 84.2% of symptoms) and cognitive (mean = 91.2% of symptoms), they on average only identified 53.5% of the mental health-related symptoms of concussions. Respondents who were older, with higher education and household income, or resided in the Northwest Territories or Alberta identified significantly more of the mental health-related symptoms listed. <br><br>INTERPRETATION: While Canadian youth athletes, parents, coaches and medical professionals are able to identify most of the physical and cognitive symptoms associated with concussion, identification of mental health-related symptoms of concussion is still lagging.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1932-6203
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0141699
ID  - ref1
ER  -