A recent epidemiology study in Pediatrics looked at concussions in 20 high school sports during the 2013–2014 to 2017–2018 school years.
For every athlete, one practice or competition was counted as one exposure.
Overall, 9542 concussions were reported for an overall rate of 4.17 per 10 000 athletic exposures (AEs).
Football continues to have the highest incidence with a concussion rate of 10.40 per 10 000 AEs.
As in previous studies, rates in competition (33.19 to 39.07 per 10 000 AEs) are increasing and higher than rates in practice which are lower and decreasing over the study period (5.47 to 4.44 per 10 000 AEs).
This may reflect better reporting or increasing injury rate
In all 20 sports, recurrent concussion rates decreased from 0.47 to 0.28 per 10 000 AEs.
Confirming prior studies, among sex-comparable sports, concussion rates were higher in girls than in boys (3.35 vs 1.51 per 10 000 AEs).
Also, among sex-comparable sports, girls had larger proportions of concussions that were recurrent than boys (9.3% vs 6.4%).
This study may reflect effective implementation of strategies to reduce concussion incidence such as mandatory removal from play and more stringent requirements associated with return to play.
References
Concussion Incidence and Trends in 20 High School Sports, Kerr et al., 2019, Pediatrics.
