Incidence Rate of Concussions for 8-12 year olds in Football

/ Medical Athletics Sports Services/

Let's talk athletic exposures and incidence rates in youth football. The risk of concussion, sprains, or broken bones is reported in terms of X number per 1000 athletic exposure. For instance the concussion incidence rate in youth football 1.76 per 1000 athletic exposures. Another manner in which, risk is quantified would be incidence density ratios. This method compares different incidence rates within a sport. As an example the incidence density ratio in youth games to practices has been calculated to be 25.91. 

The incidence density ratio allows for the comparison of different incident rates at a given point in time. In epidemiology the incidence density ratio allows the scientist to determine if a causal relationship exists between different events or prevalence rates. 

An athletic exposure is defined as 1 player taking the field in a game or practice. So a quarterback who plays 16 weeks of a regular season with 1 game a week and four practices per week in the regular season equals 80 athletic exposures for the quarterback (16 x (1+4) = 80). If there are 25 players on his or her team then that equals 2,000 athletic exposures for the team in the regular season (80 x 25 = 2000).

Football Players at each level in U.S.

numbers are reported in millions (pop warner-425,000; youth league-3,000,000; high school-1,300,000; college-100,000; professional-2,000)

A 2013 study conducted by the University of Pittsburgh and Columbia University of youth football in western Pennsylvania on 468 young athletes over a 4 month season. The participants were aged 8-12 years comprising 18 teams. 

Athletic Exposures

number of athletic exposures over 4 months

Causes of Concussion

the percentage of concussion in each category

Incidence Rate and Incidence Density Ratios

Incidence rate (IR) and incidence density ratio (IDR) {per 1000 athletic exposures}

Comparison of Concussion Incidence Rates and Incidence Density Ratios

evaluation of incidence rates (IR) and Incidence Density Ratios (IDR) {per 1000 athletic exposures}

Rate of Concussion

Comparing concussion levels across football levels. Each sport level is compared against 8-10 yo. (Therefore 11-12 yo are 2.92 times more likely to sustain concussion as compared to 8-10 yo; High school football players are 11.2 times more likely to sustain a concussion when compared to 8-10 yo; college players are 13.5 times more likely then 8-10 yo to sustain a concussion)

In this space it was the intent to place an edited video displaying the Oklahoma Drill, which is often used around the country. To this video, a voice over was going to be added to explain the purpose of the drill. But a picture is worth a thousand words. 

Despite what the drill hopes to teach, it breaks brains.