UMEM Educational Pearls

Category: Orthopedics

Title: Sex differences in concussion

Keywords: Concussion, sex differences, head injury (PubMed Search)

Posted: 10/23/2021 by Brian Corwell, MD (Updated: 3/28/2024)
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The total number of concussions tripled among female athletes aged 14 to 18 years during a 20-year period from 2000 to 2019.

Query of National Injury Surveillance System

Female athletes with sports-related concussions or closed head injuries who presented to the ED

In 14- to 18-year-old females the number of concussions increased from 9,000 in 2000 to 32,000 in 2019.

65% of all concussions among female athletes occurred in soccer, basketball, cheerleading, softball, and volleyball.

Association between an increase of 308.7 annual concussions per 10,000 annual female participants.

In a study of more than 80,000 teenage players across US high schools, female athletes are 1.9 times more likely to develop a sports-related concussion than are their male counterparts in comparable sports.

In boys, the most common way of becoming concussed was through direct contact with another player (50%)

In girls, the most common way of becoming concussed was after colliding with another object (ball/goalpost).

This mechanism may partly explain another finding:  Boys were also more likely to be removed from play immediately after a suspected head injury than were girls