- Title
- On average, a professional rugby union player is more likely than not to sustain a concussion after 25 matches
- Creator
- Rafferty, James; Ranson, Craig; Oatley, Giles; Mostafa, Mohamed; Mathema, Prabhat; Crick, Tom; Moore, Isabel
- Date
- 2019
- Type
- Text; Journal article
- Identifier
- http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/185568
- Identifier
- vital:16713
- Identifier
-
https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2017-098417
- Identifier
- ISBN:0306-3674
- Abstract
- To investigate concussion injury rates, the likelihood of sustaining concussion relative to the number of rugby union matches and the risk of subsequent injury following concussion. A four-season (2012/2013-2015/2016) prospective cohort study of injuries in professional level (club and international) rugby union. Incidence (injuries/1000 player-match-hours), severity (days lost per injury) and number of professional matches conferring a large risk of concussion were determined. The risk of injury following concussion was assessed using a survival model. Concussion incidence increased from 7.9 (95% CI 5.1 to 11.7) to 21.5 injuries/1000 player-match-hours (95% CI 16.4 to 27.6) over the four seasons for combined club and international rugby union. Concussion severity was unchanged over time (median: 9 days). Players were at a greater risk of sustaining a concussion than not after an exposure of 25 matches (95% CI 19 to 32). Injury risk (any injury) was 38% greater (HR 1.38 95% CI 1.21 to 1.56) following concussion than after a non-concussive injury. Injuries to the head and neck (HR 1.34 95% CI 1.06 to 1.70), upper limb (HR 1.59 95% CI 1.19 to 2.12), pelvic region (HR 2.07 95% CI 1.18 to 3.65) and the lower limb (HR 1.60 95% CI 1.21 to 2.10) were more likely following concussion than after a non-concussive injury. Concussion incidence increased, while severity remained unchanged, during the 4 years of this study. Playing more than 25 matches in the 2015/2016 season meant that sustaining concussion was more likely than not sustaining concussion. The 38% greater injury risk after concussive injury (compared with non-concussive injury) suggests return to play protocols warrant investigation.
- Publisher
- England: BMJ Publishing Group LTD
- Relation
- British Journal of Sports Medicine Vol. 53, no. 15 (2019), p. 969-973
- Rights
- All metadata describing materials held in, or linked to, the repository is freely available under a CC0 licence
- Rights
- http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
- Rights
- This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial.
- Rights
- Open Access
- Subject
- Concussion; Data collection; Data science; Injury risk; Original; Programming languages; Rugby; Sports injuries; Subsequent injury; Surveillance; Survival analysis
- Full Text
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