Concussion Victims 3 Times More Likely to Commit Suicide: Study

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A Canadian study found that adults who had concussions earlier in life have three times greater risk for suicide. More so, the long-term risk of suicide seems greater if the head injury happens during a weekend.

According to reports from CBS News, a team of researcher wanted to know any lasting effect of garden-variety concussions. Usually, most research focuses on long-term effects of concussion in military veterans and professional athletes. Previous studies have already linked severe traumatic injuries increases the risk of suicide especially in athletes.

Dr. Donald Redelmeier, senior core scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences and a physician at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center in Toronto led the study published in the CMAJ on Feb. 8.  

Based on the results, Redelmeier recommends that loved ones and physicians should observe closely anyone who's had a concussion regardless if the injury happened years ago. "Nobody commits suicide in the immediate weeks or the immediate months after the concussion", Redelmeier was quoted saying by CBS News. On average, suicide often happens almost after six years following the head injury, Redelmeier added.

For the study, the researchers gathered information on 235,110 individuals who had a history of concussion over a two-decade period, from 1992 to 2012, in Ontario Canada. Redelmeier and his team looked for people who had concussions but did not require any surgery or hospitalization. According to

ABC News, the suicide rate in Ontario Canada where the study was conducted is estimated to be nine every 100,000 people. Meanwhile, in the United States as a whole, it's around 12 every 100,000 people according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

From the group the researchers collected, there were 667 subsequent suicides recorded. That's equivalent to 31 deaths per 100,000 people. That is more than three times the suicide rate in the population as a whole in Canada, researchers noted.

Furthermore, researchers found that those who ha concussion on a weekend had a higher risk of suicide. The rate of suicide was 39 per 100,000 in this group. That's nearly four times the rate of the general population. While their findings support previous research on how concussions can cause long-term effects on physiology, mood and behavior, researchers recommend further research.

Concussions are usually caused by a brief disruption of brain function usually happens when you bump or get a blow in the head according to ABC News. Concussions do not always cause a loss of consciousness. Rather, it is a mild form of head injury and considered the most common type of mild head injury usually occurring in young adults.

Each concussion is associated with an increased risk for suicide, the study finds.

"Mild concussions, although invisible at the time of the incident, could be dangerous later on," Redelmeier told ABC News. "It is important that even years after a concussion, not to forget about it and to inform your doctor of your history."

Check out the video below on how to identify symptoms of concussion: