Department for Health, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Medical Services, Rugby Football Union, Twickenham, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Int J Sports Med. 2021 Sep;42(10):930-935. doi: 10.1055/a-1345-9163. Epub 2021 Feb 19.
Concussion is the most common match injury in rugby union. Some players wear padded headgear, but whether this protects against concussion is unclear. In professional male rugby union players, we examined: (i) the association between the use of headgear and match concussion injury incidence, and (ii) whether wearing headgear influenced time to return to play following concussion. Using a nested case-control within a cohort study, four seasons (2013-2017) of injury data from 1117 players at the highest level of rugby union in England were included. Cases were physician-diagnosed concussion injuries. Controls were other contact injuries (excluding all head injuries). We determined headgear use by viewing video footage. Sixteen percent of cases and controls wore headgear. Headgear use had no significant effect on concussion injury incidence (adjusted odds ratio=1.05, 95% CI: 0.71-1.56). Median number of days absent for concussion whilst wearing headgear was 8 days, compared with 7 days without headgear. Having sustained a concussion in the current or previous season increased the odds of concussion more than four-fold (odds ratio=4.55, 95% CI: 3.77-5.49). Wearing headgear was not associated with lower odds of concussions or a reduced number of days' absence following a concussion.
脑震荡是橄榄球联盟中最常见的比赛损伤。有些球员戴有衬垫的头盔，但这种头盔是否能预防脑震荡尚不清楚。在职业男性橄榄球联盟球员中，我们研究了：（i）使用头盔与比赛脑震荡损伤发生率之间的关联，以及（ii）戴头盔是否会影响脑震荡后的重返赛场时间。使用嵌套病例对照队列研究，纳入了来自英格兰最高水平橄榄球的 1117 名球员的四个赛季（2013-2017 年）的损伤数据。病例为经医生诊断的脑震荡损伤。对照组为其他接触性损伤（不包括所有头部损伤）。我们通过观看视频片段确定头盔的使用情况。16%的病例和对照组佩戴头盔。头盔的使用对脑震荡损伤的发生率没有显著影响（调整后的优势比=1.05，95%CI：0.71-1.56）。佩戴头盔时因脑震荡而缺席的中位数天数为 8 天，而不佩戴头盔时为 7 天。在当前或前一赛季中遭受脑震荡会使脑震荡的几率增加四倍以上（优势比=4.55，95%CI：3.77-5.49）。戴头盔与脑震荡的几率降低或脑震荡后缺席的天数减少无关。
