Poster 123: Concussion Rates in Youth Lacrosse

OBJECTIVES: Sport related concussions are estimated to occur up to 3.8 million times per year in the United States. Despite the popularity of youth sports in the US, there has been little focus on concussions in youth lacrosse. The purpose of this study was to provide a descriptive analysis of the epidemiology and incidence of concussions in youth lacrosse and compare our results to well-documented analyses of concussions in American football. METHODS: The National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) was used to collect data on concussion injuries occurring during lacrosse in pediatric patients from 2006-2019. Nationwide estimation of injury incidence was determined using weighted calculations and combined participation data obtained from the U.S. Lacrosse membership records. A comparison dataset was collected for football using the NEISS data on football related concussions. Type of lacrosse contact was categorized into player-to-player, player-to-stick, player-to-ball, and player-to-ground. Incidence was compared over each year, by age and gender. RESULTS: The database yielded 1,302 concussions related to lacrosse over the study period, of which 67.6% occurred in males. National participation in lacrosse steadily increased from 2006 to 2012 by an average of 10.27% annually and then experienced a lower annual growth rate of 2.53% from 2012 to 2019. There was a statistically significant increase in incidence of concussions for girls and boys from 2006 to 2012 which then declined for the duration of the study period. An increase in incidence of concussions was also seen in football players through 2012, but then marginally declined from 2012 to 2019. The average concussion incident rate for youth lacrosse was 23.29% per 100,000 participants which was significantly higher than the incident rate for football (7.19% per 100,000 participants). CONCLUSIONS: Lacrosse has experienced a lower annual rate of growth in participation over recent years. As participation rates increased from 2006 to 2012, the relative rates of concussions in both genders rose as well. However, since 2012, the rate of concussions has declined which may be attributed to the declining rate of growth in the sport and rule changes in lacrosse which varied by gender. While the incidence of concussion in lacrosse is declining, it remains at a much higher rate per participant than what is observed in football. Future studies should focus on education and increased prevention efforts for concussions in lacrosse given the higher incidence than youth football.