Association between sports participation history and age of first exposure to high-risk sports with concussion history
Jaclyn B. Caccese, Julianne D. Schmidt, Jena N. Moody, Steven P. Broglio, Thomas W. McAllister, Michael McCrea, Paul F. Pasquina, Thomas A. Buckley, CARE Consortium Investigators
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the association between sports participation history, including estimated age of first exposure (eAFE) to high-risk sports, and concussion history in first year (i.e., freshmen) collegiate athletes. Athletes increased their odds of sustaining a pre-college concussion by 5% [odds ratio(OR) = 1.05 (95%CI:1.05–1.06)] for each additional year of contact sports participation – 24% of all student athletes reported one or more pre-college concussions. When eAFE was analysed dichotomously at age 12, a greater proportion of those who started playing football before age 12 reported a positive concussion history compared to those who started playing football at age 12 or later (Х2 = 4.483, p = 0.034, Phi = 0.049). When eAFE was analysed continuously, later eAFE to women’s high-risk sports was associated with a lower likelihood of sustaining a pre-college concussion [OR = 0.93 (95%CI:0.88–0.98)]. Our findings suggest that there is a relationship between eAFE to football and to women’s high-risk sports and concussion history.