Jury Still Out on Whether Concussions Increase Suicide Risk

Concussions cause depression and/or suicide, is it true? Gary Solomon, MD presented a lecture on Concussion and Mental Health at the 25th Annual Meeting of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) in Dallas, TX.

The 2016 conference, with more than 1,600 sports medicine physicians attending from throughout the United States and around the world, explores current decisions, controversies as well as best practices that define the clinical practice of sports medicine.

‘Sports medicine physicians in the 2016 Conference explore current decisions, controversies as well as best practices that define the clinical practice of sports medicine.’

Dr. Solomon, clinical neuropsychologist and Co-Director of the Vanderbilt Sports Concussion Center, works with both the Nashville Predators and Tennessee Titans and has a research interest in sports-related concussions. One of the major topics he addressed is whether concussions cause depression and/or suicide.

This is not an easy question to answer but he presented an overview of scientific studies on the topic. Despite some media reports, he concludes that there is poor quality evidence regarding a causative relationship of sport-related concussion and psychiatric illness as well as suicide and further research is needed in this area.

About the AMSSM Annual Meeting: The conference features lectures and research addressing the most challenging topics in sports medicine today including concussion and mental health, tendinopathy, running medicine with a focus on nutrition, mechanics, youth running and ultramarathon, thromboembolic events, diabetes, sideline management of abdominal and chest trauma, low back pain, emerging technologies, bone health including a stress fracture workshop and treatment/interpretation of bone edema on MRI and more.

Source: Newswise