Data from 12 boys and girls sports from 1997-1998 and 2007-2008 show the concussion rate increasing 4.2-fold over the 11-year period with a 15.5 percent annual increase. There were 2,651 concussions observed among the more than 10 million athletes who participated in high school sports during the research period. Boys’ sports represented 53 percent of the athlete-exposures and 75 percent of all concussions.
Football players were among more than half of all concussions, and girls’ soccer reported the most concussions among girls’ sports. Among boys’ and girls’ basketball, soccer and baseball/softball, girls were nearly twice as likely to have a concussion as boys. The concussion rate also increased over time among all sports recorded.
Read the abstract about high school athlete concussions.
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