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Concussion Rates in High School Sports Vary By Sport and Gender

 

Sport  

Schultz 20041

(converted to per 1000 AE)

Gessel 20071 

Injury Rate (per 1000 AE)

Lincoln 20112

Concussion Rate (per 1000 AE)

Marar 20123

(converted to per 1000 AE) 

Baseball  0.11  0.05  0.06 .005
Softball  0.10  0.07  0.11 .016
Boys' Basketball
  0.10  0.07  0.10 .016
Girls' Basketball
  0.17  0.21  0.16 0.21
Boys' Soccer
  0.23  0.22  0.17 0.19
Girls' Soccer
  0.13  0.36  0.35 0.34
Football  0.33  0.47  0.60 0.64
Field Hockey
  NR  NR  0.10 0.22
Girls' Volleyball  NR  0.05  NR 0.06
Wrestling  0.09  0.18  0.17 0.22 
Boy's Lacrosse
  NR  NR  0.30 0.40
Girl's Lacrosse
  NR  NR  0.20 0.35
Cheerleading  NR  NR  0.06 0.14
 All boys
  NR  NR  0.34 0.31
 All girls
  NR  NR  0.13 0.16
 All athletes
  NR  NR  0.24 0.25

 

1.Kevin Guskiewicz, PhD, ATC, "Preventing Sudden Death in Sport: Head Injury Considerations." NATA Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA (June 24, 2010).

2. Lincoln A, Caswell S, Almquist J, Dunn R, Norris J, Hinton R. "Trends in Concussion Incidence in High School Sports: A Prospective 11-Year Study" Am. J. Sports Med. 30(10) (2011), accessed January 31, 2011 @ http://ajs.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/01/29/0363546510392326.full.pdf+html   Editor's Note: Concussion rates are reported for an 11-year period (1997-2008) at 25 high schools in Fairfax County, Virginia where, through 2005, each high school employed 2 part-time certified athletic trainers, and, after 2005, each school had 1 full-time certified athletic trainer and 1 part-time.  This access to a trained professional, and expanded access after 2005, was believed by the study's authors to have "substantially increased the likelihood that concussion was recognized and treated."   Only 42% of U.S. high schools have access to a certified athletic trainer.

3. Marar M, McIlvain NM, Fields SK, Comstock RD. Epidemiology of Concussions Among United States High School Athletes in 20 Sports. Am J Sports Med 2012;40(4):747-755. 

Updated February 2, 2011


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