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Mild traumatic brain injury among a cohort of rugby union players: predictors of time to injury
  1. Stephanie J Hollis1,2,
  2. Mark R Stevenson3,
  3. Andrew S McIntosh4,
  4. Ling Li5,
  5. Stephane Heritier1,2,
  6. E Arthur Shores6,
  7. Michael W Collins7,
  8. Caroline F Finch8
  1. 1The George Institute for Global Health, Sydney, Australia
  2. 2Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
  3. 3Accident Research Centre, Monash Injury Research Institute and School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
  4. 4School of Risk and Safety Sciences, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
  5. 5Centre for Health Systems and Safety Research, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
  6. 6Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
  7. 7UPMC Center for Sports Medicine, The University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
  8. 8Australian Centre for Research into Injury in Sport and its Prevention, Monash Injury Research Institute, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
  1. Correspondence to Stephanie J Hollis, Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, 25 Nichols Parade, Mount Riverview, NSW 2774, Australia; shollis{at}georgeinstitute.org.au

Abstract

This study reports the time to sustain a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) among a cohort of community rugby union players. Demographic and player characteristics were collected and players followed up for between one and three playing seasons. 7% of the cohort sustained an mTBI within 10 h of game time, increasing twofold to 14% within 20 h. The mean time to first mTBI was 8 h with an SD of 6.2 (median 6.8 h; IQR: 2.9–11.7 h). Players reporting a recent history of concussion were 20% more likely to sustain an mTBI after 20 h of game time compared with those with no recent history of concussion. Players were likely to sustain an mTBI in shorter time if they trained for <3 h/week (HR=1.48, p=0.03) or had a body mass index <27 (HR=1.77, p=0.007). The findings highlight modifiable characteristics to reduce the likelihood of shortened time to mTBI.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsm.2010.079707

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    Footnotes

    • Funding SJH was supported by postgraduate scholarship funding from the Australian Government's National Health and Medical Research Council, and scholarship funding from the NSW Sporting Injuries Committee. MRS was also supported by funding from the Australian Government's National Health and Medical Research Council. LL was funded by the New South Wales Health Biostatistical Training Program. This study was supported by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grant 5R49CE323155 to the University of Pittsburgh Center for Injury Research and Control.

    • Competing interests None.

    • Ethics approval Approval was obtained from the Human Research Ethics Committee at The University of Sydney.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.