History Of Concussion Or ACL Injury Is Not Associated With Worse Health-Related Quality Of Life Scores In Collegiate Student-Athletes.

Regular physical activity through sports participation is associated with physical, cognitive, and psychological health benefits. Sports-related injuries, such as concussions, have been linked to reduced health-related quality of life (HRQoL). However, limited attention has been directed towards exploring the impact of other prevalent sport-related injuries, such as anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears, on overall HRQoL. PURPOSE: Examine the effects of previous concussion or ACL injuries on HRQoL in incoming collegiate student-athletes. METHODS: 54 college athletes were categorized into 3 groups: previous history of concussion (CONC: n = 18), previous history of ACL injury (ACL: n = 18), and control group (CONT: n = 18). Participants were closely matched by sport, sex, and position. Sports included football (N = 6), basketball (N = 3), soccer(N = 9), field hockey(N = 15), lacrosse(N = 13), swimming(N = 3), and rowing(N = 6). Prior to sports participation, all participants completed 12-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) to assess HRQoL during their concussion baseline assessment. A higher score denotes a worse outcome. One-way ANOVAs compared groups for 1) SF-12 Physical Composite Score (PCS-12), 2) SF-12 Mental Composite Score (MCS-12), 3) HADS Anxiety Composite Score, 4) HADS Depression Composite Score. Tukey post hoc was performed on significant findings. RESULTS: There was a significant main effect for group for HADS Anxiety score (F = 3.89, p = 0.027). The control group scored higher (worse) than the ACL group (control:5.8 + 5.5, ACL: 2.6 + 1.7, p = 0.023, d = 0.81). There were no significant main effects for group: for PCS-12 (ACL: 55.0 + 2.8, CONC: 52.7 + 3.9, CONT: 54.0 + 2.9, p = 0.104), MCS-12 (ACL: 54.6 + 4.9, CONC: 56.0 + 6.6, CONT: 56.9 + 5.6, p = 0.502), and HADS Depression (ACL: 3.6 + 3.1, CONC: 1.4 + 1.1, CONT: 3.3 + 3.7, p = 0.059). CONCLUSIONS: The study suggests that among incoming college athletes, history of concussion or ACL injury are not associated with overall HRQoL as measured by the SF-12 composite scores. However, there is an interesting finding related to anxiety, where the control group had higher anxiety scores compared to the ACL group, which requires further exploration.