@article{ref1,
title="Playing Rule Article Eight decreases the rate of sport related concussion in NFL players over two seasons",
journal="Physician and sportsmedicine",
year="2020",
author="Baker, Hayden P. and Lee, Cody S. and Qin, Charles and Fibranz, Cole and Rizzi, Andrew and Athiviraham, Aravind",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to determine if rule article 8 significantly reduced (1) the rate of concussions sustained by NFL players during  regular season games, (2) the average games missed secondary to concussion injury,  and (3) the number of players placed on the injury reserve for sport-related  concussions (SRC). <br><br>METHODS: This study was a retrospective review of all NFL players  who were placed on the publically available injury reports for a concussion from the  2016-2017 to 2019-2020 regular seasons. Player's date of injury was cross-referenced  with an absence of statistics from the respective games for which they were ruled  out to ensure accuracy. With article 8 taking effect starting with the 2018-2019  season, players were assigned to a pre- or postrule cohort based on date of injury  for purposes of injury rate comparison. Injury rates were calculated per 1000  athletic exposures (AE). Relative risk (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI)  compared injury rates between the two cohorts. Average number of games missed and  number of players placed on injury reserve (IR) per year were also calculated. Continuous variables were statistically compared using two-tailed t-test, while  categorical variables were compared using Chi-squared test. Statistical significance  was set at P ≤ 0.05. <br><br>RESULTS: There was a 40% decrease in the SRC rate when  comparing the post- to the pre-article-8 cohort (3.3 vs 5.5/1000 AEs, respectively;  RR 0.60; 95% CI 0.50-0.73). There was no significant difference in average games  missed per concussion or percentage of players placed on the IR due to SRC between  the two cohorts. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: The rate of SRC over the past two NFL seasons  following the enactment of playing rule article 8 has significantly decreased when  compared with the two seasons prior. The average games missed per concussion and the  number of players placed on the IR due to SRC has not significantly changed under  playing rule article 8.   Keywords: American football<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0091-3847",
doi="10.1080/00913847.2020.1836945",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00913847.2020.1836945"
}