driving<\/a>, was inspired to pursue this research by his work in Sunnybrook\u2019s trauma unit. <\/p>\n\u201cI once saw the same patient twice in the same month for two separate concussions,\u201d he said during an interview. \u201cI began to wonder if it was more than a coincidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Researchers performed a population-based longitudinal cohort analysis, a type of research that reveals patterns that only emerge over time. They identified 3,037,028 patients in Ontario between April 2002 and March 2022. Of these, 425,158 had suffered a concussion (the cohort) and 2,611,870 had suffered a sprained ankle (the control group). A total of 200,603 patients were injured in subsequent motor vehicle crashes. Patients who had previously suffered concussions were 50 per cent more likely to have been in a crash.<\/p>\n
The heightened crash risk from a concussion was greater than the risk of well-known driving hazards such as sleep apnea and epilepsy. The study found that concussion patients were slightly younger, more likely to have prior mental health diagnoses and to have had previous emergency visits. Concussions were particularly associated with \u201chigh-acuity\u201d crashes (most severe injuries), single-vehicle crashes (suggesting driver error rather than multi-car collisions) and late-night crashes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt may be that concussions impair the ability to avoid a crash, particularly one that is caused or set up by another driver,\u201d said Dr. Redelmeier, who also attributed the greater risk to a lack of understanding of seriousness of symptoms and damage caused by experiencing a concussion.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn so many of these movies, the hero gets knocked out and is cracking jokes and doing martial arts in the next scene. You are not Tom Cruise. If you have a concussion, you are not going to snap right out of it. Some patients, after one or two days, they are back at it [driving] with a vengeance. People should give it three or four weeks. It\u2019s ironic, because that\u2019s what they would do if they had a broken rib, but they take concussion more lightly because they feel as if they\u2019re the same.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Redelmeier believes the relationship between concussion and traffic collisions deserves more study. His research shows a direct connection between the two, but it recognizes that \u201ccorrelation does not prove causality.\u201d According to the study, \u201cFactors that predispose patients to concussions may also predispose patients to a traffic crash \u2026 The prevailing risk after a concussion, therefore, underscores that some failures to stay out of harm\u2019s way may reflect a general risk seeking attitude, a tendency to attribute fault to others or some other characteristic that leads to a crash that could have been avoided.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the very least, the study\u2019s findings suggest that clinicians should warn concussion patients of the risks associated with driving after incurring a concussion. Those patients should take such warnings to heart. \u201cThe best thing for those who\u2019ve suffered a concussion to do is be aware and take protective action,\u201d said Dr. Redelmeier. \u201cAt the least, avoid high speeds, late-night driving and driving in poor weather conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n
In other words, \u201cUse your brain.\u201d<\/p>\n
It sounds simple but when you examine the history of humanity you find that \u201cusing your brain\u201d is a lot more difficult than it appears, especially when you stick someone behind a steering wheel. Remember, your brain is an organ so vital that if you didn\u2019t have one you wouldn\u2019t know you didn\u2019t have one.<\/p>\n
But that probably wouldn\u2019t stop most of us from driving.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Of all the organs in the human body, there is none more abused and unappreciated than the brain.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312092,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[49,48,84,2922,30296,60071],"class_list":["post-312091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-noastack","tag-ordid10000","tag-roadsage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}