A latest study on high school students uncovered an association between altitudes and concussions stating that athletes playing at higher altitudes suffer lesser concussions compared to those who play closer to sea levels.
The latest study published in the Orthopedic Journal of Sports Medicine highlights a correlation between altitude and concussion. The scientists found that altitude changes the physiology of the skull turning it into a tight fit. This study was led by David Smith, MD, of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
"This is the first time any research has linked altitude to sports-related concussion," said Dawn Comstock, PhD, associate professor of epidemiology at the Colorado School of Public Health and co-author of the study. "It appears that when you are at altitude there may be a little less free space in the skull so the brain can't move around as much."
There has been a tremendous increase in the rate of concussions among high school athletes. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports state that the annual number of sports-related brain injuries in the United States stands at an estimated 1.6 million to 3.8 million and many are left undiagnosed.
The researchers examined the statistics on concussion of athletes involved in several sports. The athletes were from 497 different high schools from the U.S. with altitudes varying from 7 feet to 6,903 feet, in which 600 was the median.
The researchers analyzed football separately as it reports greater number of concussions. The statistics were taken from the National High School Sports Related Injury Surveillance System directed by Comstock.
The researchers noticed that among those who played high school sports at altitude of 600 feet and above, there was a 31 percent decrease in the rate of concussion and also concussion rates among footballers lowered by 30 percent at these altitudes.
"We did see significant differences in concussion rates with elevation changes," Comstock said. "This could mean that kids in Colorado are less likely to sustain a concussion playing sports than kids in Florida."
The researchers remain unclear about the correlation between altitude and concussion but they assume that as the athlete ascends in altitudes the blood vessels present in the brain undergo a mild edema or swelling along with other physiological changes, causing the brain to fit tightly in the skull. On being struck, this sort of tightening does not allow it to move violently.
"Vasogenic edema in the brain leads to increased extravascular water," the study says. "These two adaptations would also lead to a tighter packaging of the brain with increased blood cell content surrounding the brain."
The team plans to focus on professional sports and understand in depth the relation between the two factors.
