(Reuters Health) – While concussion rates remain higher among U.S. high school students playing football than among those playing other sports, a new study also suggests these brain injuries are becoming less common in football practices and repeat concussions are happening less often in all sports.
Researchers looked at injuries per athletic exposure (AE) for 20 high school sports during the 2013-2014 to 2017-2018 school years. For every athlete, one practice or competition counts as one exposure.
Overall, 9,542 concussions were reported during the study period, for an overall injury rate of 4.17 concussions per 10,000 AEs.
Football game-day concussion rates rose during the study from 33.19 to 39.07 per 10,000 AEs, researchers reported October 14 online in Pediatrics. But football practice concussions became less common, dropping from 5.47 to 4.44 per 10,000 AEs.
And across all high school sports in the study, repeat concussion rates declined from 0.47 to 0.28 per 10,000 AEs. …
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