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Table 2 Incidence of concussion in football

From: Epidemiology of sports-related concussion in seven US high school and collegiate sports

 

No. (%) of concussions

Injury risk (incidence proportion) per seasona

Injury rate (incidence rate) per 100,000 athlete-exposures

Athlete-seasons

Risk (%)a

95 %CI

CLR

Athlete-exposures

Rate

95 %CI

CLR

Overall

239 (100)

8524

2.6

2.3, 3.0

1.3

676,274

35.3

30.9, 39.8

1.3

Exposure type

         

 Games

148 (61.9)

––

––

––

––

77,767

190.3

159.7, 221.0

1.4

 Practices

85 (35.6)

––

––

––

––

598,507

14.2

11.2, 17.2

1.5

Setting

         

 High school

197 (82.4)

7247

2.6

2.2, 3.0

1.4

566,063

34.8

29.9, 39.7

1.3

 College

42 (17.6)

1277

2.9

2.0, 3.8

1.9

110,212

38.1

26.6, 49.6

1.9

Positionb

         

 Defensive back

23 (9.6)

811

2.7

1.6, 3.8

2.4

65,327

35.2

20.8, 49.6

2.4

 Defensive lineman

26 (10.9)

1090

2.3

1.4, 3.2

2.3

87,072

29.9

18.4, 41.3

2.3

 Linebacker

29 (12.1)

909

2.8

1.7, 3.8

2.2

72,539

40.0

25.4, 54.5

2.1

 Offensive lineman

48 (20)

2051

2.2

1.6, 2.9

1.8

161,901

29.7

21.3, 38.0

1.8

 Quarterback

19 (7.9)

506

3.6

1.9, 5.2

2.7

39,737

47.8

26.3, 69.3

2.6

 Receiver

31 (13)

1264

2.4

1.5, 3.2

2.1

100,046

31.0

20.1, 41.9

2.1

 Running back

40 (16.7)

1135

3.3

2.2, 4.3

2.0

89,028

44.9

31.0, 58.9

1.9

 Special teams and kicker

5 (2.1)

230

2.2

0.3, 4.1

13.7

18,826

26.6

3.3, 49.8

15.2

 Tight end

13 (5.4)

487

2.7

1.2, 4.1

3.4

38,488

33.8

15.4, 52.1

3.4

  1. CI confidence interval, CLR confidence limit ratio
  2. aInjury risk is the average probability that an athlete will be concussed during a season
  3. bThere were six concussions (2 %) in activities other than games and practices; position is undefined for these injuries