A - 41 Concussion in Middle School Student-Athletes Receiving Special Education Services

Abstract Purpose To compare the distribution of sport-related concussions (SRC) and recovery duration among middle school student-athletes who receive special education services and those who do not. Method De-identified demographic and concussion data from athletes collected between 2015 and 2022 were examined (data was not collected during the 2020–2021 academic year due to COVID-19.) Athletes were divided into two groups based on whether they received (R-SES) or did not receive (N-SES) special education services. Descriptive statistics, injury proportions (IPs), injury proportion ratios (IPRs), and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated. Recovery duration was defined as the number of days between injury onset and unrestricted return-to-play (RTP). Group differences in recovery duration were examined using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test (p < 0.05). Results Data from 10,255 middle school athletes (5348 [52.2%] male; 4902 [47.8%] female; 5 [0.04%] unknown gender) were analyzed. Among R-SES (759 [7.4%]), 23 SRCs were diagnosed (IP 3.0%, 95% CI: 1.8%–4.2%) and required a median (IQR) of 15 (11.0–19.5) days to RTP. Among N-SES (9496 [92.6%]), 263 SRCs were diagnosed (IP = 2.7%, 95% CI: 2.4%–4.1%) and required a median (IQR) of 15 (11.0–22.0) days to RTP. The proportion of diagnosed SRCs was similar between groups (IPR = 1.03, 95% CI: 0.72–1.66). Recovery duration did not differ between groups (W = 3299.5; p = 0.43). Conclusions Findings suggest that special education status is not associated with concussion risk or recovery duration. Future research should explore variations within special education eligibility classifications and duration of return-to-learn.