1. The Sport Concussion Assessment Tool 3
Baseline Values for Professional Ice Hockey Players
Objectives
Results
To determine baseline scores for the scoreable components of the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool – 3rd Edition (SCAT3) using a large sample of professional male ice hockey players.
The mean age of the players was 25.3 years (SD=5.2).
Players were Caucasian, 86% were Finnish.
Average education was 12.4 (SD=1.9) years.
A small percentage reported a history of learning disability (2.4%) or psychiatric problems (1.5%).
The average number of concussions prior to testing was 1.2 [SD=1.4, range=0-12] and the reported mean time of recovery from the last concussion was 19.0 days (SD=48.4, range=0-547).
19.5% of the players had been hospitalized or medically imaged following head trauma.
The most commonly endorsed symptoms on the Symptom Scale were:
Neck pain (n=75, 25%),
Fatigue (n=71, 23%),
Trouble falling asleep (n=53, 17%).
On the SAC, the most difficult components were concentration and delayed recall. Only 80 (26%) and 75 (25%) subjects performed flawlessly on these components, respectively.
Methods
The SCAT3 was administered as a preseason baseline test to 304 professional male ice hockey players from 14 teams in Finland.
Background health history was obtained at the time of testing.
The SCAT3 was administered individually to every player before or after team practice (at least 10 minutes after physical exertion).
The testing was conducted by the team physiotherapist and/or physician.
The scoreable components of the SCAT3 included:
Symptom Score and Severity
Standardized Assessment of Concussion (SAC)
Coordination Score
Modified Balance Error Scoring System (M-BESS)
Tandem gait
Table. Summary of the scoreable components of the SCAT3. * Spearman’s correlation between the variables was non-significant (r= -0.06, p=0.6).
Component
Scale n
Mean SD Md
95% CI
Range
Symptom Score
0-22 points
303
1.6
2.8
1.0
0-21.0
Symptom Severity
0-132 points
2.4
5.2
0-61.0
SAC
0-30 points
296
27.0
1.7
Orientation
0-5 points
299
4.9
0.3
5.0
Immediate memory
0-15 points
302
14.6
0.6
15.0
Concentration
298
3.9
0.9
4.0
Digits backward
0-4 points
304
2.9
0.8
3.0
Months in reverse order
0-1 points
0.2
0-1.0
Delayed recall
3.7
1.1
0-5.0
Coordination score
0.1
M-BESS*
0-30 errors
295
2.0
2.5
0-20.0
Double leg stance
0-10 errors
Single leg stance
301
1.4
1.8
0-10.0
Tandem stance
1.5
Tandem gait*
seconds 94
10.8
Conclusion
This study provides baseline values for the SCAT3 among professional hockey players.
Timo
Hänninen
MD1
Markku
Tuominen
MD2
Matti
Vartiainen
MSc3
Jari
Parkkari
MD, PhD1
Juha
Öhman
MD, PhD4
Grant L.
Iverson
PhD5
Teemu M.
Luoto
MD4
1Tampere Research Center of Sports Medicine, UKK Institute for Health Promotion Research, Tampere, Finland
2Medisport Inc, Tampere, Finland
3University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
4Department of Neurosciences and Rehabilitation, Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland
5Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Harvard Medical School; & Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital Home Base Program, Boston, MA, USA
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