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"Last year, more Canadian children died from traumatic brain injuries than all pediatric cancers combined," writes Hayley Mick in Saving Grace.
"While sudden infections, tumours and strokes cause many of those pediatric injuries, the majority are caused by trauma. Of 16,811 Canadians hospitalized with traumatic brain injuries in 2003-2004, the largest proportion — 30 per cent — were children and youth, according to the most recent data from the Canadian Institutes of Health Information."
Dr. Peter Rumney, senior physician director of rehabilitation and complex-continuing care at Bloorview Kids Rehab in Toronto, was online earlier take your questions on the prevalance of brain injuries, how they happen and how you can prevent them.
Dr. Peter Rumney is an international expert in childhood brain injury and the senior physician director of rehabilitation and complex-continuing care at Bloorview Kids Rehab in Toronto. A pediatrician with over 20 years' experience in pediatric brain injury, he is a sought-after international speaker, book editor and journal author and has what is believed to be the largest database tracking long-term outcomes of children with brain injury. He teaches at the University of Toronto.
(Dr. Peter Rumney)
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Rasha Mourtada, Globe Life web editor: Good afternoon, Dr. Rumney, and thanks for taking the time to come online today to discuss brain injuries and children. Can you start by telling us how common brain injuries are and why this is an issue that affects everyone with kids?
Peter Rumney: Acquired and traumatic brain injury is the commonest cause of death and disability in children and young adults from ages 1 - 19 years. The frequency of traumatic brain injury is about 150 per 100,000 in the population each year, one third of these occur in children and teens. If you look at the 2.5 million of us that live in Toronto alone this means about 1250 children are injured each year with some form of concussion or brain injury. About 125 of these children will have severe traumatic brain injuries and end up with long term disabilities as a result. Many if not all of these injuries could be prevented if we were more vigilant and invested enough resources in design in our environment.
Dick LaFleur, Vancouver: Do helmets make a significant difference in the severity of a head injury when a child is participating in sports such as biking, skiing and skateboarding? How can one evaluate the quality of a helmet for these sports?
Peter Rumney: Yes it is abundantly clear from the injury prevention research that bicycle helmets reduce the frequency and severity of traumatic brain injuries and death by approx. 85%. ... Isn't that the best return on investment we could expect for about $20 to $30?
We should ALL be wearing helmets when we are participating in sports where we are travelling faster that we can run or fall from a height. Cycling, skateboarding, rollerblading, scooters, rock-climbing, et cetera.
Helmet quality has been established by a number of specific regulatory and safety bodies such as CSA, ANSI and U.L. Each helmet designed for the sport that has met the proper criteria should have their specific designation or label and the sports retailers with proper knowledge can show you this and ensure that helmet fit is correct... an essential feature.
Rasha Mourtada: I imagine that the challenges that face parents of kids with brain injuries are similar to those faced by families dealing with any kind of traumatic event. Do you have advice on how to deal with the inevitable anger that comes with facing something like that?
Peter Rumney: This is a question that deserves an entire counselling session in and of itself. Clearly the trauma is a huge one for the individual and their loved ones, this can only be dealt with through an individualized approach with mental health professionals who understand and have skills in this area. Many families are not ready for this in the first few weeks but do find that the support and understanding of other families who have lived this already is very helpful. Contacting the local Brain Injury Support group in you area to meet such families has been very helpful for a number of families that I have worked with in the past.
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