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Second Round Abstract Submissions
7) Recovery
7.4 Racial identity and concussion recovery timelines among collegiate athletes in the United States: a limbic matars consortium investigation
  1. Erica Beidler1,
  2. Jessica Wallace2,
  3. Patricia Kelshaw3,
  4. Monique Pappadis4,
  5. Thomas Bowman5,
  6. Thayne Munce6,
  7. Nyaz Didehbani7,
  8. David Cifu8,
  9. Jacob Resch9
  1. 1Department of Athletic Training, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
  2. 2Department of Health Science, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA
  3. 3Department of Kinesiology, Department of Psychology, Brain Research and Assessment Initiative of New Hampshire (BRAIN) Laboratory, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA
  4. 4Department of Nutrition, Metabolism, and Rehabilitation Science, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Galveston, TX, USA
  5. 5Department of Athletic Training, University of Lynchburg, Lynchburg, VA, USA
  6. 6Environmental Influences on Health and Disease Group, Sanford Research, Sioux Falls, SD, USA
  7. 7Department of Psychiatry and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA
  8. 8Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
  9. 9Department of Kinesiology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

Abstract

Objective To investigate concussion diagnosis and recovery timelines of White and Black collegiate athletes.

Design Retrospective cohort study.

Setting Six National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) institutions.

Participants Of 774 documented concussions, 521 (67.3%) cases were analyzed that reported the racial identity of the athlete as being White or Black, had at least one recovery outcome available, and occurred in a sport with an athletic trainer present at practices and competitions. There were 220 (42.2%) concussions sustained by White males, 146 (28.0%) by White females, 128 (24.6%) by Black males, and 27 (5.2%) by Black females.

Interventions (or Assessment of Risk Factors) Data for diagnosed concussions sustained from 2015–2020 were obtained from each participating sites’ medical records. The independent variable was race (White; Black) with sex (Male; Female) as a covariate.

Outcome Measures Dependent variables included days from 1) the date of injury to diagnosis, 2) symptom resolution, and 3) return to participation. Three separate multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression (HR) models were calculated and extreme outliers were censored.

Main Results When adjusting for sex, Black athletes were diagnosed with a concussion sooner than White athletes (HR 1.27, 95% CI 1.04–1.55, p=0.02) by a median of 1 day. No racial differences were observed for the time intervals between concussion occurrence and symptom resolution (HR 1.15, 95% CI .94–1.41, p=0.19) or return to participation (HR 1.07, 95% CI .83–1.39, p=0.60).

Conclusions There may be racial differences at initial concussion diagnosis that do not persist throughout the recovery timeline in US collegiate athletes.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2023-concussion.297

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