Differences in Concussion Diagnosis By Sex and Age Group in a General Population

Author(s)

Dick R1, Richards M2
1Merative, Carmel, IN, USA, 2Merative, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

Presentation Documents

OBJECTIVES: Female athletes have a higher risk of concussion than their male counterparts but there is a need to investigate these differences in a general population. We assessed reported concussions during a pre-COVID time period in a claims database to compare the prevalence across sexes and ages. METHODS: Using the Merative™ MarketScan® Commercial and Medicare Databases and Treatment Pathways tool, patients were included in the current study if they had continuous enrollment in the database from January 1, 2018 - December 31, 2019 and were between the ages of 14-65. The prevalence of concussions, identified using ICD-10-DX codes, was calculated for all cohorts (14-17, 18-23, ≥24 years) and compared statistically between males and females. A secondary analysis, restricted to those with at least one year of continuous enrollment after the initial concussion, was conducted to determine if the proportion of patients who had a diagnosis code for a concussion at least 30 days after the first concussion differed across cohorts. RESULTS: Approximately 9 million patients met the inclusion criteria for the study. A total of 66,098 patients had a claim for a concussion during the study period (56% female). The prevalence of concussions was 0.7% and 0.8% among males and females, respectively (p-value<.0001). Females were more likely to be diagnosed with a concussion than males in all age cohorts, with prevalence decreasing with age. Among patients with at least one concussion, 11.7% of males and 16.9% of females had a diagnosis code for a concussion at least 30 days after the initial code (p-value<.0001). CONCLUSIONS: This study supports previous research done in athletic populations and provides evidence that in a general population the prevalence of concussions is higher among females across all age groups. Further research is needed to investigate why the risk of concussion differs across sexes.

Conference/Value in Health Info

2023-05, ISPOR 2023, Boston, MA, USA

Value in Health, Volume 26, Issue 6, S2 (June 2023)

Code

EPH264

Disease

Injury & Trauma

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