Ten thousand steps and more. Football, rugby, ice hockey, board sports are particularly risky when it comes to concussion. A subject that worries professional and amateur sport, because these shocks are not always diagnosed, far from it. One thing is less well known: women are more affected than men. The risk for them would be 1.5 to 2 times higher on average.
“For a long time, we know that women would be more exposed to concussions than men, with the same number of hours of practice”, indicates Philippe Decq, head of the neurosurgery service at Beaujon Hospital (AP-HP), in Clichy (Hauts-de-Seine), who works – on a voluntary basis – for the French Rugby Federation. Concussion, which can be caused by a direct impact to the head or neck, a violent shake or an indirect shake of the brain, is accompanied by the occurrence of disorders indicative of transient neurological dysfunction, which varies widely from person to person (dizziness, feeling of being “stunned”, headache, diplopia, star vision, amnesia). These symptoms most often resolve within a few days, but in rare cases they may persist for a longer term.
The neurologist Jean-François Chermann, specialist in concussions, and consultant among others for PSG and Racing, conducted a study, published in The Neurologist’s Letter in December 2020, with 510 athletes, seen between January 2015 and March 2020 in a specialized consultation, in whom a concussion had been suspected. Among them, 82 women. “The recovery time is more than twice as long in women (40.9 days) than in men (16.6 days). They have significantly more persistent concussion signs (53.6% of women against 27.8% of men) and post-concussion syndrome (12.2% of women against 3.97% of men) ”, indicates this study. This is also shown by American studies. “Women report a greater number of symptoms, with greater intensity”, sums up Jean-François Chermann.
A more vulnerable brain
“If this study does not show any difference in relation to age, in my clinical experience, I find that it is even more problematic in children and more in girls than boys”, adds the neurologist. “After a concussion, women also have more marked cognitive function disorders than men”, notes Dave Ellemberg, neuropsychologist at the University of Montreal (Quebec), who has been following concussions for twenty years.
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