Association of artificial turf and concussion in competitive contact sports: a systematic review and meta-analysis
O' Leary F, Acampora N, Hand F, O' Donovan J
BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 9 citations
Review labels
Neutral facts our review recorded about how this study was done. They describe method, never whether we like the result.
How it was studied
- Design
- Meta-analysis (classified by our AI screen)
- Studied in
- People
- Main outcome
- Clinical events such as disease or death
Who paid for it
- Funding
- Funding not disclosed
Publication
- Published
- 2020-05-01 · BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med · vol. 6 · issue 1 · p. e000695
- Publisher
- BMJ
- Cited
- 22 citations · more than 59% of similar papers · 0.8× the field average
- References
- 43 works
- Access
- Open access (journal) · CC-BY-NC
- Research areas
- Sports injuries and prevention · Traumatic Brain Injury Research · Spinal Cord Injury Research
- Keywords
- Concussion, Funnel plot, Meta-analysis, Medicine, Football, Head injury, Poison control, Injury prevention, Physical therapy, Publication bias, Surgery, Emergency medicine, Internal medicine, Geography
4 authors
From IE, GB
- Frank O’ Leary · correspondingSport Ireland; Sport Ireland Institute
- Nic AcamporaUniversity of South Wales
- Fiona HandSt. Vincent's University Hospital
- James DonovanSport Ireland; Sport Ireland Institute
Abstract
Objective
To determine the incidence of head injuries and concussion in contact sports, comparing natural grass with artificial turf surfaces.
Design
Systematic review and meta-analysis via the RevMan V.5.3 software.
Eligibility criteria for selecting studies
All studies describing competitive contact sports played on both natural grass and artificial turf. The primary outcome measured was occurrence of head injury and concussion.
Data sources
The databases include PubMed, Embase, Cochrane, Medline and Sport Discus. The last search took place on 23 May 2019. The Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale evaluated the methodological quality of the selected studies with a funnel plot designed to determine publication bias. Study screening and data extraction were performed by two independent reviewers.
Results
Initial screening generated 42 publications, with 12 meeting criteria for inclusion. Eight studies described concussion only. The rate ratio (RR) of head injury and concussion was less on artificial turf compared with natural grass (RR=0.89, 95% CI 0.77 to 1.04) as was the rate ratio of concussion only (RR=0.72, 95% CI 0.58 to 0.89).
Conclusion
Analysis of published data demonstrates a decreased incidence of head injury and concussion when contact sports are played on artificial turf. This difference was most marked for sports such as rugby and American football. However, artificial turf has no association with the incidence of head injury or concussion while playing soccer.
Abstract via Europe PMC. Copyright remains with the authors or publisher (CC BY-NC).
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