Female Soccer Players at Greater Risk of Concussions

Between male and female soccer players, it's the girls who suffer more concussions and at twice the rate of boys. The study is important since at the last count, over eight hundred thousand kids played soccer in the US. And the long-term consequences of concussions are a greater risk for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's.

Scientists studied high school soccer players for three academic years, following about eighty thousand male and female players, about half of each. They analyzed the data on sex differences in the number of concussions, the mechanism of the injury, treatment immediately following the injury, and the outcomes. They recorded fifteen hundred concussions. That's two percent of the players and of those, thirty seven percent were boys and sixty three percent were girls, almost twice the rate of boys. Male concussions were most often from contact with another player while female concussions most often came from nonplayer contacts.

Overall, eighty percent of players were removed from the game after injury and the odds of immediate removal were three times greater when there was an athletic trainer involved. It is unclear why female athletes are at greater risk for concussions. Maybe female players are more willing to report their injuries or it's physiological differences between the sexes.

What's clear is that adolescent soccer players may require sex specific interventions to reduce their risks when doing things such as heading the ball, especially for female athletes.