Citation

Navarro SM, Pettit RW, Haeberle HS, Frangiamore SJ, Rahman NM, Farrow LD, Schickendantz MS, Ramkumar PN. J. Neurotrauma 2018; 35(20): 2391-2399.

Affiliation

The Cleveland Clinic, Orthopedic Surgery, Cleveland, Ohio, United States ; premramkumar@gmail.com.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Mary Ann Liebert Publishers)

DOI

10.1089/neu.2017.5611

PMID

29648975

Abstract

Many studies have focused on the long-term impact of concussions in professional sports, but few have investigated short-term effects. This study examines concussion effects on individual players in the National Hockey League (NHL) by assessing career length, performance, and salary. Contracts, transactions, injury reports, and performance statistics from 2008 to 2017 were obtained from the official NHL online publication. Players who sustained a concussion were compared to the 2008-2017 non-concussed player pool. Career length was analyzed using Kaplan-Meier survival curves and stratification of player age, experience and longevity. Player performance and salary changes were evaluated between the years before versus after concussion. Performance and salary changes were compared against non-concussed NHL athletes before/after their career midpoints. Of the 2,194 eligible NHL players in the 9-year period, 309 sustained 399 concussions resulting in injury protocol. The probability of playing a full NHL season post-concussion was significantly decreased compared to the non-concussed pool (p<0.05), specifically 65.0% vs. 81.2% at 1 year into a player's career, 49.8% vs 67.4% at 2 years, and 14.6% vs. 43.7% at 5 years. Performance was reduced at all non-goalie positions post-concussion (p<0.05). Players scored 2.5 points/year less following a concussion. The total annualized financial impact from salary reductions after 1 concussion was $57.0mm, with a decrease of $292k/year in contract value per athlete. This retrospective study demonstrates that NHL concussions resulting in injury protocol activation leads to shorter career lengths, earnings reductions and decreased performance when compared to non-concussed controls.

Language: en

Keywords

EPIDEMIOLOGY; HEAD TRAUMA; TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY