Study | Sport | Study design | Duration (seasons) | Study population | Exposure measures | Outcome measures | Results |
Stevens (2006)80 | Ice hockey | CS | 1 (2001–2 season) | National Hockey League Players | Half shield (visor) use vs no visor use | Concussion, non-concussion injuries and eye injuries | No statistically significant differences in concussion rates between players who wore visors vs those who did not (OR: 1.39, 95% CI: 0.71 to 2.71) |
(n = 787) | Players who wore visors did not miss significantly more games than players who did not wear a visor (p>0.05) | ||||||
Benson (1999)2 | Ice hockey | PC | 1 (1997–8 season) | 22 CIAU teams (n = 642) | Full vs half face shield use | Concussion incidence | No statistically significant risk differences between players wearing half shields and full face shields (p = 0.90) |
Benson (2002)39 | Ice hockey | PC | 1 (1997–8 season) | 22 CIAU teams (n = 642) | Full vs half face shield use | Concussion Severity measured by time loss due to injury | Players who wore half shields missed significantly more time loss (2.4 times) than players who wore full face shields (4.07 sessions, 95% CI: 3.48 to 4.74 vs 1.71 sessions, 95% CI: 1.32 to 2.18 respectively) |
Stuart (2002)79 | Ice hockey | PC | 1 | United States Junior A hockey players(n = 282) | Facial protection (full, partial, none) | Concussion, head, face and neck injuries | Concussions occurred in 4 players wearing no facial protection, 5 players wearing visors and 2 players wearing full face shields; these difference were not statistically significant |
Lemair (2007)81 | N/A | Lab | N/A | Surrogate headform | 3 commercial model full face shields (cages) vs 3 visors | Peak accelerations (PA) within the surrogate headform | Facial protection substantially reduced PA during blunt impacts within threshold safety limits (below 300 g)Cages showed lower PA than visorsDifferences between models were observed during repeated impacts and impact site |
PC, prospective cohort; CS, case-series; CIAU, Canadian Inter-University Athletics Union; Lab, laboratory.