Diagnosing sports-related concussions may be harder than thought
Study raises questions about common concussion assessment tool

Date:
April 5, 2022
Source:
Rutgers University
Summary:
The tool being used to diagnose concussions might be overestimating
the condition and wrongly identifying symptoms like fatigue and
neck pain caused from intense exercise and not a brain injury,
according to researchers. This new research raises new questions
about the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool (SCAT), a questionnaire
widely used along with other methods to diagnose concussions
sustained during sports.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
The tool being used to diagnose concussions might be overestimating
the condition and wrongly identifying symptoms like fatigue and neck
pain caused from intense exercise and not a brain injury, according to
Rutgers researchers.


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This new research raises new questions about the Sport Concussion
Assessment Tool (SCAT), a questionnaire widely used along with other
methods to diagnose concussions sustained during sports. Findings were presented at the American Physiological Society annual meeting April 5.

"Our findings highlight the importance of considering the effects of
exercise and fatigue in assessing concussions in athletes on the field,"
said the study's first author, Stephanie Iring, a doctoral candidate in
the laboratory of Jorge Serrador, an associate professor at the Rutgers
School of Health Professions. "While players with a head impact may
report more symptoms generally, we have to be cautious in using all
symptoms on the assessment since some are common after intense exercise
even when there was no head impact." A concussion is a traumatic brain
injury usually caused by a blow to the head.

Although not typically life-threatening, the effects can be serious and
long- lasting. About 3.8 million sports-related concussions are reported
each year in the United States.

SCAT is a tool designed for use by medical professionals to determine
whether a player has suffered a concussion. The assessment includes
questions about "red flag" symptoms such as neck pain, headache, muscle weakness and vision problems in addition to tests to assess memory loss
and other symptoms.

In previous studies of the tool, researchers compared symptoms in athletes
who experienced a blow to the head with people who have been at rest. For
the new study, researchers compared SCAT scores in rugby players who
had sustained a blow to the head with teammates who had just played an
intense rugby match but did not have a head impact. They assessed 209
players, 80 of whom had experienced a head impact and 129 who had not.

Compared with those who did suffer a head injury, those who did have
a head injury had significantly more symptoms on the SCAT assessment,
reporting 26 symptoms on average. Non-injured players reported about
nine symptoms. However, many players without a head injury had symptoms
similar to those reported by head-injured players, including fatigue
and neck pain.

"Our data shows that exertion during a match increased the number and
severity of self-reported symptoms in control players even though they
had not experienced a head impact," Iring said. "This could lead to
difficulty differentiating these players from those that had experienced a
head impact when using on-field assessments." Some symptoms, including headache and "not feeling right," were more closely associated with
having a head injury. This suggests these symptoms might be a stronger indicator of concussion in players who have just finished an intense game, according to researchers. In addition to headache, other symptoms more
common in those with a head injury included cognitive-sensory effects, emotional-affective symptoms and hypersensitivity. The researchers
suggested further studies are needed to examine how these components
can be used along with current physiological measures to better assess
a concussion in athletes.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Rutgers_University. Original written
by Patti Verbanas.

Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


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Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/04/220405171807.htm

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