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Female high school soccer players sustained more concussions than other high school athletes
SAN DIEGO — Concussion rates were significantly higher in female high school athletes compared with their male counterparts, with most concussions sustained in female athletes who played soccer, according to a presenter at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting.
“[Our] findings suggest that [traumatic brain injury] TBI law enactments have contributed to greater awareness of sports-related concussions, likely due to increase in the awareness of the injury,” Michael S. Schallmo, MD, said during his presentation. “Our analysis demonstrated participation in girls’ soccer increasingly exposed athletes to a high risk of sustaining a concussion than all other sports. In gender-matched sports, females demonstrated significantly higher reported concussion rates and proportions.”
He added, “Our findings suggest the enactment of concussion laws may have had a big influence on the diagnosis dependent upon sport. Currently, no laws address the sport- or gender-specific differences identified in the study.”
According to a press release, Schallmo and colleagues collected injury data from the High School Reporting Information Online to study injuries reported between 2005 and 2015 for high school athletes in the following nine sports: boys’ football; boys’ and girls’ soccer; girls’ volleyball; boys’ and girls’ basketball; boys’ wrestling; boys’ baseball; and girls’ softball. An injury proportion ratio was used to compare the relative proportions of total estimated concussions from the total estimated injuries. The rate ratio was used to compare the concussion rates. Investigators were also interested in the rates of concussions prior to the enactment of laws regarding TBI in sports (2005 to 2009) and after this period (2010 to 2015).
Results showed between 2005 and 2006 and 2014 and 2015, the number of concussions overall increased 2.2-fold. In addition, the release noted the concussion rate overall and concussion proportion overall significantly increased. Investigators noted athletes who were injured between 2014 and 2015 had a higher chance of sustaining a concussion if they played girls’ soccer vs. girls’ volleyball, girls’ basketball or boys’ football.
After the TBI law was enacted, female soccer players compared with male football players had higher concussion rates and concussions were more common in girls’ soccer vs. all sports between 2014 and 2015. – by Monica Jaramillo
References:
Schallmo MS, et al. Paper #7. Presented at: American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting; March 14-18, 2017; San Diego.
Disclosure: Schallmo reports no relevant financial disclosures.