Tucker, R., Falvey, E., Fuller, G. orcid.org/0000-0001-8532-3500 et al. (2 more authors) (2021) Baseline SCAT performance in men and women: comparison of baseline concussion screens between 6288 elite men's and 764 women's rugby players. Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine, 31 (6). e398-e405. ISSN 1050-642X
Abstract
Objective:
This study compared Sports Concussion Assessment Tool (SCAT) performance in elite male (6288 players) and female (764 players) rugby players, to determine whether reference limits used for the management and diagnosis of concussion should differ between sexes.
Design:
Cross-sectional census sample.
Setting:
Data from World Rugby's Head Injury Assessment management system were analyzed. This data set covers global professional rugby.
Participants:
All professional players who underwent baseline SCAT testing as part of World Rugby's concussion management requirement formed the study cohort. Ten thousand seven hundred fifty-four SCAT assessments from 6288 elite male rugby players and 1071 assessments from 764 elite female players were analyzed.
Intervention:
Elite men and women rugby players are independent variables.
Main Outcome Measures:
Sports Concussion Assessment Tool performance, including symptoms endorsed, cognitive submode performance, and balance performance.
Results:
Women endorsed significantly more symptoms, with greater symptom severity, than men (relative ratio 1.34, 95% confidence interval, 1.25-1.45 women vs men). Women outperformed men in cognitive submodes with the exception of immediate memory and delayed recall and made fewer balance errors than men during the modified Balance Error Scoring System. Clinical reference limits, defined as submode score achieved by the worst-performing 50% of the cohort, did not differ between men and women.
Conclusions:
Women and men perform differently during SCAT baseline testing, although differences are small and do not affect either the baseline or clinical reference limits that identify abnormal test results for most submodes. The greater endorsement of symptoms by women suggests increased risk of adverse concussion outcomes and highlights the importance of accurate evaluation of any symptom endorsement at baseline.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2020 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. This is an author-produced version of a paper subsequently published in Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine. This version is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial Licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. You may not use the material for commercial purposes. |
Keywords: | concussion; SCAT; Rugby Union; neurological screening; concussion management |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield) > School of Health and Related Research (Sheffield) > ScHARR - Sheffield Centre for Health and Related Research The University of Sheffield > Sheffield Teaching Hospitals |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 09 Nov 2020 15:30 |
Last Modified: | 26 Jan 2022 10:58 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wolters Kluwer Health |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1097/jsm.0000000000000847 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:167790 |