I searched for “concussions in the NFL.” I used sportdiscus for my database. I chose this study over other because based on the title. I thought it would be interesting to see how they conducted this study and how altitude affects the rates of concussions. The reference for this article is as follows:
Myer, G. D., Smtih, D., Barber Foss, K. D., Dicesare, C. A., Kiefer, A. W., Kushner, A. M., . . . Thomas, S. M. (2014). Rates of concussion are lower in national …show more content…
They had viewed another research study which studied high school football games at different altitudes compared to the number of concussions athletes had received.
3. What was the research question?
The authors wanted to look at the connection between altitude and concussion rate in the NFL. They hypothesized that games played at higher altitudes would have lower concussion rates among the players compared to games played at lower altitudes due to the physiologic responses that occur during acclimatization to altitude.
4. What were the sources of the data collected? For example, who were the participants? What was the sample? What sites for research data collection were used? And/or what documents were studied?
Every player that was on the active roster for each NFL team for the 2012-2013 season, not including the playoffs, were monitored for the occurrence of a concussion. There are 46 players per active roster, and there are 32 teams in the NFL. This accounted for 22,080 total competition exposures. 30% of the games played during that season were played at a higher altitude. The authors of this study predetermined the threshold for altitude to be 664 ft or greater above sea …show more content…
What conclusions were reached?
Based on the information found, 300 concussions were sustained during the 2012-2013 season. The authors found that the odds of a concussion were 30% lower when playing at a higher altitude compared to lower elevations. Their linear model that the authors made confirmed their results.
8. What might be the implications for practice from the conclusions of the study?
There needs to be further verification of the relationship between concussions and altitude, as some of the web based reports used may not be completely valid on the reporting of the concussions. If the study is proven true, it would be important to determine the reasons behind the relationships of concussions and altitude, which could help in making changes for reducing concussions at all elevations.
9. What ethical issues were addressed? How were they addressed?
It does not seem that any of the teams knew they would be used in the study, although all information obtained for the study was by way of public information from the web. Since the authors gathered their information from second hand sources, they did not cause the players/teams to be in any more danger of receiving a concussion than they would be if the study did not