Healthcare professional involvement and RTP compliance in high school athletes with concussion.
Juliet K Haarbauer-Krupa, R Dawn Comstock, Michael Lionbarger and 3 others
PMID 29953252WHAT IT FOUND
Most high school athletes with concussion had unclear return-to-play compliance.
Overall, only 30.9% complied. Compliance was higher when athletic trainers and physicians were involved together, but this is an observational surveillance report, not proof of benefit.
Key findings
01The analysis included 5611 concussions. Overall, 30.9% were definitely compliant and 54.5% had compliance that could not be definitively determined.
02Athletes managed by a team that included an athletic trainer and a physician had higher odds of compliance than athletes managed by athletic trainers only, with odds ratios from 1.9 to 11.9.
03Athletes who had experienced a prior concussion were more likely to be compliant than athletes sustaining their first concussion, with an odds ratio of 2.2.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The sample came only from schools that had an athletic trainer to report data, so it does not represent schools without athletic trainer coverage. Compliance could not be definitively determined for 54.5% of concussions because symptom resolution and return-to-play times were recorded in broad categories. The surveillance system was not designed to identify specific healthcare specialist groups, so the categories used may not fully describe provider involvement. The study is observational, so it cannot show that provider involvement caused higher compliance.
Declared interests
No author conflict or funding declaration appears in the supplied article text; the metadata lists U.S. government Public Health Service research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these associations as proof that involving physicians causes safer return-to-play. The study is observational, compliance could not be definitively determined for 54.5% of cases, and the sample included only schools with athletic trainers.