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Prof. Dr. Jingzhen (Ginger) YANG, PhD, MPH (Chair)
Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine
Division of Epidemiology, College of Public Health
The Ohio State University
USA
Prof. Dr. Jingzhen (Ginger) Yang is a Principal Investigator at the Center for Injury Research and Policy, Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. She is also a tenured Professor of Pediatrics and Epidemiology at The Ohio State University College of Medicine and College of Public Health. Dr. Yang has a national and international reputation as a consummate researcher and is recognized for her leadership in the field of injury prevention. Her primary research interest is injury prevention with an emphasis on injuries to children and adolescents. Over the course of her academic career, she has been the Principal Investigator or a Co-investigator on over 50 grants and contracts, the majority of which were/are funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She has been author/co-author on over 180 peer-reviewed publications and 6 book chapters. Currently, she leads 3R01s funded by NIH focusing on injury prevention and control among children and adolescents including two randomized controlled trials and one multi-PI, multi-site, longitudinal study. Dr. Yang’s other distinctions include serving as a board member, on the executive committee, and as treasurer of the Society for Advancement of Violence and Injury Research) and serving on the Major League Baseball Injury Research Committee, which provides guidance in injury research among professional baseball players. She was a recipient of the American Public Health Association Injury Control and Emergency Health Services section’s “Excellence in Science Award,” a prestigious award for her outstanding achievements in the field of injury prevention.
Association of Self-paced Physical and Cognitive Activity Post-Concussion with Symptom Resolution in Youth
Concussions can have adverse effects on physical, cognitive, emotional, and sleep health in youth. Traditionally, clinical guidelines recommend complete physical and cognitive rest until symptom resolution followed by a gradual return to activities. In recent years, a growing body of evidence has challenged this rest-based approach, suggesting that prolonged rest after concussion can negatively affect youth due to muscular deconditioning and withdrawal from school, sports, and other activities. Emerging research has shown the potential benefits of physical activity as a non- pharmacological treatment for concussion. However, data on the effects of physical and cognitive rest (the inverse of activity) among concussed youth is limited. This prospective cohort study examined the association between objectively measured, self-paced physical and cognitive activity across the first week post-concussion and symptom resolution in youth. We enrolled youth ages 11-17 with a physician-confirmed concussion diagnosis within 72 hours of injury and followed them until symptom resolution or 45 days post-injury, whichever occurred first.Data on daily physical and cognitive activity were measured using an Actigraph and a Narrative Clip, respectively. Participants included 83 concussed youth (n = 54 [65%] males; M age = 14.2 years, [SD = 1.9]). While self-paced daily physical and cognitive activity increased across the first week post-injury, daily post-concussion symptoms decreased. Increased daily step count was associated with an increased likelihood of early symptom resolution. However, this association was not statistically significant after adjusting for acute post-concussion symptoms and other covariates. Greater school attendance time was associated with earlier symptom resolution. Our results suggest that self-paced physical and cognitive activity across the first week post-injury alone neither hastened nor prolonged concussion recovery. Youth with concussion may have some latitude to determine their own activity levels and should be encouraged to engage in self-paced activity as soon as tolerated post-injury.