@article{ref1,
title="In-season concussion symptom reporting in male and female collegiate rugby athletes",
journal="Neurotrauma reports",
year="2021",
author="Kieffer, Emily E. and Brolinson, Per Gunnar and Maerlender, Arthur E. and Smith, Eric P. and Rowson, Steven",
volume="2",
number="1",
pages="503-511",
abstract="Symptom inventories are generally only collected after a suspected concussion, but regular in-season monitoring may allude to clinical symptoms associated with repetitive subconcussive impacts and potential undiagnosed concussions. Despite sex-specific differences in symptom presentation and outcome of concussion, no return-to-play protocol takes sex into account. The objective of this study was to monitor a cohort of contact-sport athletes and compare the frequency and severity of in-season concussion-like symptom reporting between sexes. Graded symptom checklists from 144 female and 104 male athlete-seasons were administered weekly to quantify the effect of subconcussive impacts on frequency and severity of in-season symptom reporting. In-season, mean symptom severity score (SSS) (p = 0.026, mean difference of 1.8), mean number of symptoms (p = 0.044, mean difference of 0.9), max SSS (p < 0.001, mean difference of 19.2), and max number of symptoms (p < 0.001, mean difference of 6.8) were higher in the females. The females' survey results showed differences between elevated and concussed SSS (p < 0.005, mean difference of 28.1) and number of symptoms reported (p = 0.001, mean difference of 6.6). The males did not have a difference in SSS (p = 0.97, mean difference of 1.12) nor in number of symptoms (p = 0.35, mean difference of 1.96) from elevated to concussed athletes. Rugby players report concussion-like symptoms in the absence of a diagnosed concussion in-season. Female athletes reported elevated symptom frequencies with greater severities than the males, but both sexes reported considerable levels throughout the season.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="2689-288X",
doi="10.1089/neur.2021.0050",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/neur.2021.0050"
}