Injury Prevention Research Office, Division of Neurosurgery, St Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Injury Prevention Research Office, Division of Neurosurgery, St Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Inj Prev. 2022 Dec;28(6):521-525. doi: 10.1136/ip-2022-044580. Epub 2022 Jul 5.
To investigate the utilisation of additional permanent concussion substitutes (APCSs) and its efficacy with regards to rate and duration of medical assessment of head collision events (HCEs) in the 2020-2021 Premier League season. The present APCS rule allows players with a suspected concussion to be removed from a match without counting towards a team's allocated substitutions.
Eighty Premier League matches, 40 prior to additional permanent concussion substitutes implementation (Pre-APCS) and 40 after (Post-APCS), were randomly selected and analysed by a team of trained reviewers for HCEs. Data on HCE incidence, rates of medical assessment, duration of medical assessment and return to play were collected for each match. Data for the Pre-APCS and Post-APCS groups were compared to analyse differences in assessment of HCEs.
During the 2020-2021 Premier League season, three APCSs were used. There were 38 HCEs identified in the Pre-APCS group (0.95 per match, 28.79 per 1000 athlete-hours of exposure) and 42 in the Post-APCS group (1.05 per match, 31.82 per 1000 athlete-hours of exposure). Incidence of HCEs (p=0.657), rates of medical assessment (23.7% Pre-APCS vs 21.4% Post-APCS; p=0.545) and duration of medical assessment (median 81 s Pre-APCS vs 102 s Post-APCS; p=0.466) did not significantly differ between the two groups.
The implementation of APCSs in the Premier League did not impact the rate or duration of medical assessement of HCEs. Despite the introduction of APCSs, the consensus protocols for HCE assessment were rarely followed. We recommend changes to APCS and its implementation that would be aimed at protecting player health.
研究在 2020-2021 英超赛季中，额外永久性脑震荡替代物（APCS）的使用情况及其对头部碰撞事件（HCE）医疗评估的速率和持续时间的影响。目前的 APCS 规则允许疑似脑震荡的球员在不计算在球队分配的替补名额内的情况下被替换下场。
随机选择了 80 场英超比赛，40 场在引入 APCS 之前（Pre-APCS），40 场在引入 APCS 之后（Post-APCS），并由一组经过培训的评审员对这些比赛中的 HCE 进行分析。收集了每场比赛的 HCE 发生率、医疗评估率、医疗评估持续时间和重返赛场的数据。对 Pre-APCS 和 Post-APCS 组的数据进行比较，以分析 HCE 评估的差异。
在 2020-2021 英超赛季中，使用了 3 个 APCS。在 Pre-APCS 组中发现了 38 例 HCE（每场比赛 0.95 例，每 1000 名运动员暴露时间 28.79 例），在 Post-APCS 组中发现了 42 例（每场比赛 1.05 例，每 1000 名运动员暴露时间 31.82 例）。HCE 的发生率（p=0.657）、医疗评估率（23.7% Pre-APCS 与 21.4% Post-APCS；p=0.545）和医疗评估持续时间（中位数 81 s Pre-APCS 与 102 s Post-APCS；p=0.466）在两组之间没有显著差异。
在英超联赛中引入 APCS 并没有影响 HCE 的医疗评估的速度或持续时间。尽管引入了 APCS，但很少遵循 HCE 评估的共识协议。我们建议对 APCS 及其实施进行修改，以保护球员的健康。
