PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Gastin, Tom AU - Sunderland, Patrick AU - Anderson, Hamish AU - Makdissi, Michael AU - Davis, Gavin AU - Hearps, Stephen AU - Green, Brady AU - Harcourt, Peter AU - Willmott, Catherine AU - Clifton, Patrick TI - 11.13 Concussion incidence and mechanisms of action in professional Australian footballers – differences between men and women AID - 10.1136/bjsports-2023-concussion.371 DP - 2024 Jan 01 TA - British Journal of Sports Medicine PG - A141--A142 VI - 58 IP - Suppl 1 4099 - http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/58/Suppl_1/A141.3.short 4100 - http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/58/Suppl_1/A141.3.full SO - Br J Sports Med2024 Jan 01; 58 AB - Objective To assess the incidence of, and mechanisms causing concussion in elite male (AFL) and female (AFLW) Australian football, to identify potential targets for risk reduction.Design Retrospective study.Setting/Participants Concussion data was obtained from the AFL medical database, which included all concussions sustained by AFL (male) players from 2015–18 and AFLW (female) players from 2017–19. All concussions were diagnosed by experienced clinicians utilising standardised concussion assessment tools and injury definitions, as well as video review.Interventions Where available, video footage of each incident was obtained and analysed to determine the circumstances in which each concussion occurred, including the mechanism and the contact point of impact.Main Results Overall, 252 concussions (6.72 per 1,000 player hours, 95%CI: 5.89–7.55) were reported in 779 matches in the AFL competition, compared to 44 concussions in 96 matches (14.61 per 1,000 player hours, 95%CI: 10.38–18.85) in the AFLW competition. Video footage was available for 194/252 (77%) concussions in the AFL and 35/44 (80%) concussions in the AFLW. Video analysis determined that players ‘being bumped’ (23%) and ‘being tackled’ (20%) were the most prevalent mechanisms in the AFLW, compared with the AFL in which ‘marking contests’ (multiple players attempting to catch the football, 28%) were most commonly associated with diagnosed concussion.Conclusions These findings confirm that there is a higher incidence of concussion in females compared to males in elite Australian football. The study also suggests that the mechanisms associated with concussion differ across the male and female competitions, potentially requiring individualised injury prevention efforts.