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  • 11.1 Does headgear prevent sport-related concussion? A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials with 6311 players and 173383 exposure hours in soccer and rugby

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11) Risk Reduction/Prevention
11.1 Does headgear prevent sport-related concussion? A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials with 6311 players and 173383 exposure hours in soccer and rugby
  1. Wesam Saleh A Al Attar1,2,3
  1. 1Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Umm Al Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia
  2. 2Discipline of Exercise and Sport Science, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
  3. 3Department of Sport, Exercise and Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of Headgear (HG) in reducing the incidence of Sport-Related Concussion (SRC) among soccer and rugby players.

Design Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Setting All competitive soccer and rugby levels were included.

Participants A total of 6311 soccer and rugby players without age or gender restrictions.

Interventions (or Assessment of Risk Factors) This systematic review with meta-analysis was based upon the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). A systematic search for relevant studies published from 1985–2022 using the following databases Cochrane Library, AMED, PubMed, Web of Science, and PEDro was conducted. The keywords used in the search were ‘Headgear’, ‘Sport-Related Concussion’, ‘soccer’, ‘rugby’, and variations of these search terms. Included studies had to be randomized controlled trials using HG for soccer and rugby players with the primary outcome being SRC rate. The random-effects model by the RevMan5 Meta-Analysis software was used in analyzing the extracted data.

Outcome Measures SRC rates in the experimental group versus control group.

Main Results The pooled results of 6311 players and 173383 exposure hours showed 0% SRC reduction per 1000 hours of exposure in the experimental group compared to the control group with a risk ratio [RR] of 1.03 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.82–1.30, P=0.79).

Conclusions This meta-analysis demonstrates that HG does not prevent SRC in soccer and rugby. Therefore, the findings from this meta-analysis do not currently support the use of HG to prevent SRC in soccer or rugby.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2023-concussion.359

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