TY - JOUR
PY - 2018//
TI - Epidemiology of mental health conditions in incoming Division I collegiate athletes
JO - Physician and sportsmedicine
A1 - Sarac, Nikolas
A1 - Sarac, Benjamin
A1 - Pedroza, Angela
A1 - Borchers, James R.
SP - 242
EP - 248
VL - 46
IS - 2
N2 - OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to examine the epidemiology of mental health conditions in incoming American Division I collegiate athletes.
METHODS: Pre-participation physical questionnaires from 1118 incoming student athletes at a Division I Institution were collected retrospectively from 2011-2017. Data collected included lifetime history of any mental health condition, musculoskeletal injuries, concussions, and post-concussion depression. History of any mental health condition was evaluated by gender and sport played. It was also evaluated in comparison to musculoskeletal injuries and concussions.
RESULTS: The lifetime prevalence of any mental health condition was 14.0% for all athletes, 14.2% for male athletes, and 13.6% for female athletes. Individual sports reported a greater prevalence (17.2%) than did team sports (11.8%) (p=0.010). The prevalence was also higher in contact sports (16.4%) than in non-contact sports (12.5%), although this difference was not statistically significant (p=0.072). There was a significant association between mental health condition and all four major groups of injuries examined: upper extremity (p=0.043), lower extremity (p=0.007), axial skeletal (p<0.001), and concussions (p=0.039). Post-concussion depression occurred in 2.0% of all athletes reporting a concussion.
CONCLUSION: The lifetime prevalence of mental health conditions in this population (14.0%) is far less than estimates in the general population. This observation may be due to a combination of factors including exercise/athletic participation mitigating depressive symptoms, competitive selection, and underreporting. History of a mental health condition may be associated with injury, although causation cannot be determined.
Language: en
LA - en SN - 0091-3847 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00913847.2018.1427412 ID - ref1 ER -