Search

Objective: To determine baseline symptom and neurocognitive norms for non-concussed and previously concussed varsity athletes using the sport concussion assessment tool (SCAT). Study Design: Descriptive cohort study. Setting: University of Calgary. Subjects: 260 male and female university football, ice hockey and wrestling athletes over three seasons (2005–7). Methods: A baseline SCAT was completed during preseason medical evaluation. Subjects were grouped as follows: all participants, men, women, never concussed (NC) and previously concussed (PC). Main Results: The mean age of participants was 20.5 years (range 17–32). In total, 41.2% of all athletes had a total post-concussion symptom scale (PCSS) score of 0. The mean baseline PCSS scores were as follows: all participants 4.29; men 3.52; women 6.39; NC 3.75 and PC 5.25. The five most frequently reported symptoms for all athletes were fatigue/low energy (37% of subjects), drowsiness (23%), neck pain (20%), difficulty concentrating (18%) and difficulty remembering (18%). The median immediate recall score was 5/5 for all groups. Women scored a median of 5/5 on delayed recall, whereas all remaining groups scored a median of 4/5. Months in reverse order were successfully completed by 91.6% of subjects. All participants, women and PC scored a median of 6 on reverse digits, whereas men and NC scored a median of 5. Conclusions: The mean SCAT baseline PCSS score was approximately 5, although just under half of the athletes scored 0. Female athletes scored better on tests of neurocognitive function. PC athletes scored better than NC athletes on all neurocognitive tests except delayed five-word recall.

OBJECTIVES: To determine prevalence and incidence of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) in a modern meat packing plant. The secondary objective was to explore the relation between ethnicity and CTS. METHODS: Six hundred and sixty five workers were interviewed and examined to find the prevalence of CTS. Subsequently, 421 workers without CTS were followed up and examined at a median interval of 253 days; of those, 333 remained without CTS and were again examined at a median interval of 148 days. RESULTS: The prevalence and incidence of CTS was 21% and 11/100 person-years, respectively. The incidence for Asian mixed, white, and other ethnicities was 12.0, 12.2, and 7.2 cases/100 person- years, respectively. The observed incidence for men and women was 9.7 and 18.4 cases/100 person-years, respectively. This difference was not quite significant (p = 0.068) with an estimated relative risk (women v men) of 1.9 (95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.9 to 3.8). The interaction between sex and use of tools was significant (p = 0.04), however, although the relative risk for CTS in women who used tools was 4.2 the numbers were small and not significant. The relative risk for men who used tools was 0.64 and not significant. The percentage of incident cases with comorbid disease was only 6.3% (3/47). CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence and incidence of CTS in this workforce were higher than in the general population. However, the prevalence of CTS in this modern, mechanised plant was not significantly different from that reported in older plants. No relation was found between ethnicity, age, body mass index, and CTS for either prevalence or incidence. Comorbid disease among the cases of CTS is significantly less than that found in other industry.