Examining the Association Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Lifetime History of Head or Neck Injury and Concussion in Children From the United States.

The study looked only at baseline data, so it cannot show that adverse childhood experiences happened before the head or neck injury or concussion. Parent reports may under-report trauma and symptoms, especially for interpersonal trauma. Parent reports of symptoms after injury may make the distinction between head or neck injury and concussion less reliable. The data captured only eight of ten adverse childhood experience categories, missing physical neglect and emotional abuse. Hispanic and Asian children were less well represented than U.S. census estimates. Only 1% of the sample had four or more adverse childhood experiences, so the findings may not apply to children with much higher ACE exposure.

The supplied text does not report authors' conflicts of interest or a funding statement. The publication types list research support from NIH, U.S. government, and non-U.S. government sources.

Do not read these associations as proof that adverse childhood experiences cause head or neck injury or concussion. The study measured both at one time, and the adverse experiences could have happened after the injury.