TY - JOUR PY - 2023// TI - Changes in sport-related concussion and traumatic brain injury in New Zealand during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic JO - Journal of science and medicine in sport A1 - Lystad, Reidar P. SP - ePub EP - ePub VL - ePub IS - ePub N2 - OBJECTIVES: To quantify changes in sport-related concussion and traumatic brain injury claims in New Zealand during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic (i.e., 2020 and 2021).

DESIGN: Population-based cohort study.

METHODS: This study included all new sport-related concussion and traumatic brain injury claims that were registered with the Accident Compensation Corporation in New Zealand during 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2021. Annual sport-related concussion and traumatic brain injury claim rates per 100,000 population from 2010 to 2019 were used to fit autoregressive integrated moving average models, from which forecast estimates with 95 % prediction intervals for 2020 and 2021 were derived and compared against corresponding observed values to obtain estimates of absolute and relative forecast errors.

RESULTS: Sport-related concussion and traumatic brain injury claim rates were 30 % and 10 % lower than forecasted in 2020 and 2021, respectively, equating to an estimated total of 2410 fewer sport-related concussion and traumatic brain injury claims during the two-year period.

CONCLUSIONS: There was a large reduction in sport-related concussion and traumatic brain injury claims in New Zealand during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings highlight the need for future epidemiological studies examining temporal trends of sport-related concussion and traumatic brain injury to account for the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 1440-2440 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2023.03.006 ID - ref1 ER -