Brain Injury Awareness Month, recognized each March, provides an important opportunity to highlight the work of traumatic brain injury (TBI) prevention across CDC’s Division of Injury Prevention (DIP). See some of the highlights below of vital CDC programs and partnerships in TBI prevention.

Core State Violence and Injury Prevention Program (SVIPP)

Tennessee Launches Safe Stars Initiative to Improve Youth Sports Safety

The Tennessee Department of Health, in partnership with 33 sports and health organizations, launched the free and voluntary Safe Stars initiative. This initiative recognizes Tennessee youth sport programs that meet high standards for athlete safety. Safe Stars consists of three levels of recognition: Gold, Silver, and Bronze. Each level requires that the sports program meet certain safety standards determined by a team of health professionals. To date, 31 programs have been gold star certified, and several additional programs are currently applying. The Safe Stars initiative has increased attention on the state’s 2017 Return to Learn/Play Guideline. This guideline seeks to help athletes have a good recovery and get back to regular activities, such as school and play, safely.

Nebraska Leverages Funding for TBI Through Domestic Violence Screening

Using a block grant, the Nebraska Core SVIPP team and the Brain Injury Alliance (BIA) of Nebraska created a pilot TBI screening program in four domestic violence shelters across the state. Over 60% of women screened through this program were identified as having had a TBI. Using this information, the BIA was able to secure additional funding from the Women Investing in Nebraska collective. In 2018, the Nebraska Core SVIPP and BIA provided training on how to conduct TBI screening to two additional domestic violence prevention programs. They also conducted eight trainings on how to conduct TBI screenings with staff from the legal system, probation offices, health clinics, and substance abuse/mental health centers, as well as with social workers and Family Violence Council members in the state.

Injury Control Research Centers (ICRCs)

University of Pennsylvania is Making College Football Safer

Since 2012, the University of Pennsylvania has collaborated with multiple institutions in the Big Ten and Ivy League sports conferences to collect concussion data on varsity athletes in a surveillance system. The study collects information in real-time from students playing all types of sports. Each athlete is monitored to determine how long it takes for symptoms to resolve and how long it takes to return to school and play. Since 2012, more than 2,000 concussion cases have been entered into the surveillance system. In 2017, the University of Pennsylvania ICRC partnered with the Big Ten – Ivy League Traumatic Brain Injury Research Collaboration to take over operations of the surveillance system and to conduct analyses with the data.

Data analysis showed that football kickoffs accounted for 6% of all plays but 21% of concussions in 2015 in the Ivy League. After sharing this information with Ivy League football coaches, the coaches recommended new kickoff return rules to decrease the potential for collisions or falls that that could result in concussions. Several new rules were put in place for the 2016 and 2017 seasons. In 2016, new kickoff return rules were put in place and athletes suffered zero concussions on kickoff plays that year.

Johns Hopkins School of Public Health Helps Children Bike Safely

Johns Hopkins School of Public Health developed a 4-minute video to reach urban, minority youth who attend a pediatric primary care clinic. The video was part of a larger program that also provided a free bicycle helmet, a fitting, and instructions by a health educator. The intervention’s pilot test was completed with 20 pairs of parents and children between Oct-Dec 2017. Children who participated were about 10 years old and included equal numbers of boys and girls. The majority of these children reported daily or weekly bike-riding (65%); 80% of the children did not own a helmet and 80% reported “never” wearing a helmet.

At the one-month follow up, helmet use was significantly higher in youth reporting bike-riding after the intervention. Five out of five kids (100%) reported “always” using helmets compared to 0/20 (0%) pre-intervention. There was also an increase from 35% to 66% in youth reporting that parents required helmet use. The project received a Gold Winner and Best in Show awards from the National Health Information Awards program. Johns Hopkins is sharing this important work through national and international conference presentations and academic papers.

Learn more about other ICRC programs working to prevent Traumatic Brain Injury.