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Abstract
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Female soccer players are twice as likely to suffer concussion as their male counterparts, a study of more than 80,000 teenage players across US high schools has found.
Researchers analysed survey data from around 43,000 male and 39,000 female players from schools in Michigan over 3 academic years. A striking difference emerged between the sexes in their likelihood of having a sports-related head injury, with the girls' chance of concussion 1.88 times higher than the boys', according to the findings published on 27 April in JAMA Network Open1.
Scientists already suspected that head injuries were more common, and required longer recovery times, in female athletes. But concrete data were lacking, says neuropathologist Willie Stewart at the University of Glasgow, UK, who led the study. "We're doing so little research in female athletes," he says. Such a large volume of data on sports injuries, collected by the Michigan High School Athletic Association, offered an opportunity to investigate whether female athletes really are at higher risk of concussion ...
1. Bretzin, A. C. et al. JAMA Netw. Open 4, e218191(2021). [DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.8191 ]
Language: en |