The incidence and burden of concussion in men’s and women’s English professional football

Sprouse, B ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3655-2478, Morris, J ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6508-7897, Cooper, S ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5219-5020, Cowie, C, Kemp, S, Bennett, P and Varley, I ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3607-8921, 2025. The incidence and burden of concussion in men’s and women’s English professional football. BMJ Open Sport and Exercise Medicine, 11 (1): e002297. ISSN 2055-7647

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Abstract

Objectives: To report the incidence and burden of concussion in elite English football; and to compare between sexes (men’s vs women’s football), activity (matches vs training) and level (international vs domestic).

Methods: Concussion injuries in men’s and women’s international football (2012–2022) and men’s (2013–2022) and women’s (2018–2022) English domestic football were diagnosed and recorded by club/team-based medical practitioners, alongside training and match exposure. Severity was also reported based on days lost due to concussion; subsequently, incidence and burden were calculated. Comparisons were made between sexes (men’s vs women’s football), activity (matches vs training) and level (international vs domestic) using ORs (relative to non-concussion injuries).

Results 327 concussions were reported. Concussion accounted for 7% of all injuries in women’s international football, 5% in women’s domestic, 3% in men’s international, and 2% in men’s domestic. Concussions were more likely to occur in matches than training (OR 1.03–2.55), with this difference only significant for men’s and women’s domestic football. The burden was higher for matches than training (OR 1.38–1.63), except for women’s international football, which was lower in matches (OR 0.46). Concussions were more likely to occur in women’s international training than domestic (OR 1.81), and the burden was higher in international football (OR 1.10–3.93). The incidence (OR 2.09–4.65) and burden (OR 1.55–5.34) of concussion were higher in women compared with men’s football.

Conclusion: These data provide benchmark statistics for concussions in elite English football, enabling comparisons and assessing the efficacy of future concussion prevention strategies. Contextual factors such as sex (women>men), activity (matches>training), and level (international>domestic) influence the incidence and burden of concussion injuries.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	BMJ Open Sport and Exercise Medicine
Creators:	Sprouse, B., Morris, J., Cooper, S., Cowie, C., Kemp, S., Bennett, P. and Varley, I.
Publisher:	BMJ
Date:	28 February 2025
Volume:	11
Number:	1
ISSN:	2055-7647
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1136/bmjsem-2024-002297 DOI 2423940 Other
Rights:	This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Science and Technology
Record created by:	Jonathan Gallacher
Date Added:	17 Apr 2025 15:11
Last Modified:	17 Apr 2025 15:11
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/53428

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