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Use of the scat-3, child scat3, and king-devick in concussion assessment of youth hockey players
  1. Mark Herceg1,2
  1. 1Department of Neuropsychology, Burke Rehabilitation Hospital, White Plains, NY, USA
  2. 2Department of Epidemiology & Community Health, New York Medical College, New York, USA

Abstract

Objective Currently youth sports hockey programs do not adhere to concussion protocols. The purpose of this study was to examine the relations between performance of two sideline assessments.

Design Retrospective analysis of two measures given as part of a youth travel hockey program.

Setting Ice hockey skating facility in Westchester County, NY (USA).

Participants A sample of 121 youth hockey players participated. All of the athletes were administered the King-Devick, SAC (ages 13-18) and Child SAC (ages 10-12) at baseline, sideline, and once symptom free.

Main results Mean age was 13.2 (SD=1.2) and there 118 were boys (97.5%). The majority of sample had zero self-reported past concussion (n=113; 93.3). Fourteen athletes sustained concussions. Worse King Devick scores were associated with overall worse SAC and Child SAC Concentration and Delayed Memory scores. For every 1-point reduction in SAC Delayed Memory Score, there was a worsening of King Devick time score of 5.3 seconds (95% CI 5.0, 9.5, p<0.001) for children ages 13–18, and a time score difference of 5.8 seconds for children ages 10–12 (95% CI 5.9, p<0.001). In examining SAC total score, a 1-point decrease was associated with King Devick score worsening of 2.0s (95% CI 0.5, 4.0, p=0.01). Most common symptoms were headache and fatigue for all ages. Once symptom free, there was a trend toward improvement on both measures compared to baseline.

Conclusions This study reaffirms prior studies that both King Devick and SAC are effective combination clinical tools that assess athletes with suspected concussion.

Competing interests None.

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