ArticleOrthopaedic journal of sports medicine2018
Effect of Playing and Training at Altitude on Concussion Incidence in Professional Football.
Article in Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Do Climate and Environmental Characteristics Influence Concussion Incidence in Outdoor Contact Sports? A Systematic Review.Journal of athletic training · 2023Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Limitations of Separating Athletes into High or Low-Risk Groups based on a Cut-Off. A Clinical Commentary.International journal of sports physical therapy · 2024Article
- The Effect of Game Importance on Concussion Incidence in the National Football League: An Observational Study.Cureus · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundDespite the increased attention to sports-related concussion, the literature lacks information about the environmental factors that contribute to concussion incidence. Previous investigators have noted a decreased rate of concussion in football games played at higher altitude. PURPOSE/HYPOTHESIS: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the protective effects of altitude on concussion rate, as described by previous investigators, were due to acute effects of altitude exposure or chronic adaptations to training at altitude. Our hypothesis was that these protective effects are not attributable to relative cerebral edema that occurs in conditions of altitude-associated hypobaric hypoxia, known as the "slosh effect," but rather result from long-term adaptations to training at altitude. STUDY
designDescriptive epidemiology study.
methodsAthletes from the 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 National Football League (NFL) seasons were included in this analysis of publicly available data. Concussion rates were subdivided into 4 groups: (1) low-altitude teams playing below 644 feet (low-low), (2) low-altitude teams playing above 644 feet (low-high), (3) high-altitude teams playing below 644 feet (high-low), and (4) high-altitude teams playing above 644 feet (high-high).
resultsAway teams had a significantly higher rate of concussion (0.32 concussions per exposure) compared with their home team counterparts (0.27 concussions per exposure;
conclusionThese data indicate that living and training at altitude may have a protective effect on concussion rate, as evidenced by the significant reduction in the high-high group and the lack of an effect in the low-high group. However, teams from low altitude playing at high altitude did not have a statistically significant reduction in concussion rate. These results show that the slosh theory does not completely explain the effects of altitude on concussion incidence rate in the NFL. Further analyses are needed to investigate the true cause of altitude-induced protection in the NFL.
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