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Abstract
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OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to quantify elevated in-season presentation of concussion-like symptoms in the absence of diagnosed concussion in a cohort of collegiate rugby players.
BACKGROUND: It is well known that many sports-related concussions are unreported. Athletes that do not immediately report concussion symptoms and continue to participate in activities are at higher risk for longer recoveries and sustain post-concussion symptoms longer. How regularly athletes experience elevated concussion symptoms in-season is unknown.
DESIGN/METHODS: Athletes from men's and women's rugby teams were recruited and consented in accordance with the Virginia Tech Institutional Review Board. 63 males and 78 females participated over three seasons. Subjects completed a symptom and exposure query (SEQ) weekly throughout their season. The SEQ asked subjects if, in the past week, they experienced the 27 symptoms from the Graded Symptom Checklist for concussion. Subjects graded each symptom on a scale of 0-6, with 0 being no presentation and 6 being the most severe presentation. The graded severities of each symptom were summed to compute the overall Symptom Severity Score (SSS). Surveys that indicated confounding circumstances leading to symptoms were removed from analysis. The 99th percentile of SSS from baseline data was used as a metric of "elevated SSS," which corresponded to an SSS of 11.
RESULTS: 1,214 SEQs were collected. There were 77 surveys from 43 athletes, 10 (15.8%) men and 33 (42.3%) women, who reported elevated SSS. In a given season, 16.3% of males and 41.7% of females reported elevated symptoms at least once. The surveys identified 11 additional suspected concussions based on symptom scores beyond the 8 that were clinically diagnosed.
CONCLUSIONS: This provides some evidence that constellations of concussion symptoms are commonly experienced by collegiate rugby athletes in-season. Some are at severities typically associated with concussion, but most are below current clinical concussion diagnostic thresholds.
Language: en |