Johna K. Register?Mihalik|Kevin M. Guskiewicz|Tamara C. Valovich McLeod|Laura Linnan|Frederick O. Mueller|Stephen W. Marshall
Knowledge, Attitude, and Concussion-Reporting Behaviors Among High School Athletes: A Preliminary Study
WakeMed|University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill|University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill|A.T. Still University|University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill|University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill|University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
context many athletes continue participate practices games experiencing concussionrelated symptoms potentially predisposing subsequent complicated brain injuries limited evidence exists factors may influence concussionreporting behaviors objective examine influence knowledge attitude concussionreporting behaviors sample high school athletes design crosssectional study setting participants completed validated survey instrument via mail patients participants total 167 high school athletes 97 males 55 females 5 sex indicated age 157 14 years participating football soccer lacrosse cheerleading interventions athlete knowledge attitude scores served separate predictor variables main outcome measures examined proportion athletes reported continuing participate games practices symptomatic possible concussion selfreported proportion recalled concussion bellringer events disclosed possible concussive injury results 40 concussion events 13 bellringer recalled events sample disclosed possible concussive injury increased athlete knowledge concussion topics increase 1 standard deviation 28 points associated increased reporting prevalence concussion bellringer events occurring practice prevalence ratio pr 227 95 confidence interval ci 160 321 reporting prevalence bellringeronly events overall pr 187 95 ci 138 254 athlete attitude scores increase 1 standard deviation 115 points associated decreases proportion athletes stating participated games pr 074 95 ci 066 082 practices pr 067 95 ci 059 077 symptomatic concussions conclusions recalled concussion events study reported supervising adult clinicians aware knowledge attitude influence concussion reporting clinicians administrators make concussion education priority encourage optimal reporting environment better manage prevent concussive injuries young athletes