Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37334015›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in sports and active living2023

A case-control study of tackle based head impact event (HIE) risk factors from the first three seasons of the National Rugby League Women's competition.

Shreya McLeod, Ross Tucker, Suzi Edwards, Ben Jones, Georgia Page, Mily Spiegelhalter, Stephen W West, Grant L Iverson, Andrew J Gardner

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Article in Frontiers in sports and active living, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
16citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

16 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Shreya McLeodSchool of Medicine and Public Health, College of Health, Medicine, & Wellbeing, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia.
Ross TuckerDepartment of Exercise, Institute of Sport and Exercise Medicine (ISEM), University of Stellenbosch, South Africa.
Suzi EdwardsFaculty of Medicine and Health, Sydney School of Health Sciences, Discipline of Exercise and Sport Science, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, Australia.
Ben JonesCarnegie Applied Rugby Research (CARR) Centre, Carnegie School of Sport, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, United Kingdom.
Georgia PageSchool of Medicine and Public Health, College of Health, Medicine, & Wellbeing, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia.
Mily SpiegelhalterCarnegie Applied Rugby Research (CARR) Centre, Carnegie School of Sport, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, United Kingdom.
Stephen W WestCentre for Health, and Injury & Illness Prevention in Sport, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom.
Grant L IversonDepartment of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States.
Andrew J GardnerSchool of Medicine and Public Health, College of Health, Medicine, & Wellbeing, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Objective: The tackle is the most injurious event in rugby league and carries the greatest risk of concussion. This study aims to replicate previous research conducted in professional men's rugby league by examining the association between selected tackle characteristics and head impact events (HIEs) in women's professional rugby league. Methods: We reviewed and coded 83 tackles resulting in an HIE and every tackle (6,318 tackles) that did not result in an HIE for three seasons (2018-2020) of the National Rugby League Women's (NRLW) competition. Tackle height, body position of the tackler and ball carrier, as well as the location of head contact with the other player's body were evaluated. Propensity of each situation that caused an HIE was calculated as HIEs per 1,000 tackles. Results: The propensity for tacklers to sustain an HIE was 6.60 per 1,000 tackles (95% CI: 4.87-8.92), similar to that of the ball carrier (6.13 per 1,000 tackles, 95% CI: 4.48-8.38). The greatest risk of an HIE to either the tackler or ball carrier occurred when head proximity was above the sternum (21.66 per 1,000 tackles, 95% CI: 16.55-28.35). HIEs were most common following impacts between two heads (287.23 HIEs per 1,000 tackles, 95% CI: 196.98-418.84). The lowest propensity for both tackler (2.65 per 1,000 tackles, 95% CI: 0.85-8.20) and ball carrier HIEs (1.77 per 1,000 tackles, 95% CI: 0.44-7.06) occurred when the head was in proximity to the opponent's shoulder and arm. No body position (upright, bent or unbalanced/off feet) was associated with an increased propensity of HIE to either tackler or ball carrier. Conclusions: In the NRLW competition, tacklers and ball carriers have a similar risk of sustaining an HIE during a tackle, differing from men's NRL players, where tacklers have a higher risk of HIEs. Further studies involving larger samples need to validate these findings. However, our results indicate that injury prevention initiatives in women's rugby league should focus on how the ball carrier engages in contact during the tackle as well as how the tackler executes the tackle.

Indexed as

brain concussionfemale athletehead impact eventsmild traumatic brain injuryrugby leaguetackle

Identifiers

PMID37334015
PMCPMC10272446

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.