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Editorial
5th International Conference on Concussion in Sport (Berlin)
  1. Paul McCrory1,
  2. Willem H Meeuwisse2,
  3. Jiří Dvořák3,
  4. Ruben J Echemendia4,5,6,
  5. Lars Engebretsen7,8,9,
  6. Nina Feddermann-Demont10,11,
  7. Michael McCrea12,13,
  8. Michael Makdissi14,15,16,
  9. Jon Patricios17,18,
  10. Kathryn J Schneider19,20,
  11. Allen K Sills21,22
  1. 1 Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia
  2. 2 Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre, Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
  3. 3 Department of Neurology and Swiss Concussion Center, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
  4. 4 University Orthopaedic Center, Concussion Care Clinic, State College, Pennsylvania, USA
  5. 5 Department of Psychology, University of Missouri-Kansas City, Kansas City, Missouri, USA
  6. 6 Psychological and Neurobehavioral Associates, Inc
  7. 7 Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Oslo University Hospital and Faculty of Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
  8. 8 Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center, Oslo, Norway
  9. 9 International Olympic Committee (IOC), Lausanne, Switzerland
  10. 10 Department of Neurology, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
  11. 11 Swiss Concussion Center, Schulthess Clinic, Zurich, Switzerland
  12. 12 Department of Neurosurgery, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
  13. 13 Clement Zablocki VA Medical Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
  14. 14 Melbourne Brain Centre, Florey Institute of Neuroscience & Mental Health, Austin Campus, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia
  15. 15 La Trobe Sport and Exercise Medicine Research Centre, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Australia
  16. 16 Olympic Park Sports Medicine Centre, Melbourne, Australia
  17. 17 Section of Sports Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria, Johannesburg, South Africa
  18. 18 Department of Emergency Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
  19. 19 Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
  20. 20 Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute and Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
  21. 21 Department of Neurosurgery, Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation, Franklin, Tennessee, USA
  22. 22 Vanderbilt Sports Concussion Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Franklin, Tennessee, USA
  1. Correspondence to Associate Professor Paul McCrory; paulmccr{at}icloud.com

https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2017-097878

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    Sport-related concussion (SRC) has received much media coverage over the past 5 years. In the face of misinformation about this injury in the minds of parents, coaches and athletes, it is critical that all involved stakeholders receive scientifically sound and up-to-date information regarding SRC and its potential consequences.

    One of the most significant developments in SRC over the past two decades has been the establishment of the Concussion In Sport Group (CISG). This group has organised the key consensus meetings in this field and has published assessment tools that have become regarded as the best available information globally. The outcome documents from the meetings are first and foremost intended to guide clinical practice; however, it is hoped that they also help form the agenda for SRC research.

    In November 2001, the 1st International Conference on Concussion in Sport was held in Vienna, Austria. The subsequent four conferences (Prague, Zurich (twice) and Berlin) have developed into more formal consensus meetings broadly following the organisational guidelines established by the US National Institutes of Health. The most recent meeting held in Berlin (on 27–30 October 2016) was supported by International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) in partnership with FIFA, the IOC, World Rugby, and the International Equestrian Federation (FEI). In addition to the expert panel and observers, 400 participants representing the international sporting federations, medical committees, clinicians and researchers attended. For the meeting, the CISG expert committees reviewed almost 60 000 published papers on SRC definition, assessment, biomarkers, management, treatment, pathophysiological changes, CTE and injury prevention. The systematic review papers were presented to the audience for discussion and following the open sessions, the expert panel finalised these reviews.

    The resulting Consensus Statement and the Sport Concussion Assessment Tools (SCAT) presented in a pair of BJSM issues contain important advancements in the field. Among others, there is a clarification of the definition of concussion, a clear approach to initial management, and a recovery period that involves shorter initial rest and, in some cases, the need for rehabilitation. In these special issues of BJSM, the 12 review papers are published with the abstracts from the consensus meeting to provide important background information. The Consensus Statement, the Concussion Recognition Tool 5, the SCAT5 and the Child SCAT5 (the version number 5 has been utilised to be consistent with the numbering of the 5th International Conference on Concussion in Sport) are provided with the objective of offering a simple, clear message with tools that equip the practitioner to diagnose and manage concussion in various different sports.

    Footnotes

    • Competing interests For full author disclosures and competing interests see the online supplementary folder ICMJE forms on the BJSM website (http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2017-097878).

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