Objective: To investigate the epidemiology of sport-related concussion in collegiate water polo players and compare the risk of concussion between goalkeepers and field players.

Design: Retrospective chart review using injury surveillance data from July 2016 and June 2022. Descriptive statistics, χ2 and Fisher exact tests, and pairwise comparisons using false discovery rate-adjusted P-values were used for statistical analysis.

Setting: Pac-12 conference collegiate water polo teams.

Participants: Ninety-six Pac-12 athletes from 4 men's and 5 women's water polo teams, with a total of 124 identified concussions.

Independent variable: Player position (goalkeeper vs field player) and location of injury (practice vs competition vs not sport related).

Main outcome measures: Prevalence of sport-related concussion by player position and location of injury.

Results: Goalkeepers experienced a significantly higher proportion of sport-related concussions than field players (26.2% vs 16.0%, P = 0.005). Most concussions in goalkeepers occurred from ball-to-head contact while most field player concussions were because of contact with another player. There was no significant difference in the number of concussions suffered in practice compared with competition.

Conclusions: Collegiate water polo goalkeepers face a higher risk of concussion than field players, particularly from ball-to-head contact. Current safety protocols may be inadequate for goalkeepers. Future research should examine the effectiveness of protective headgear and modified practice equipment in mitigating concussion risk, potentially leading to rule changes.

Keywords: concussion; goalkeepers; protective equipment; water polo.

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目标：

探究大学生水球运动员运动相关脑震荡的流行病学，并比较守门员和场上球员发生脑震荡的风险。

设计：

使用2016年7月至2022年6月期间的伤害监测数据进行回顾性病例审查。统计分析采用了描述性统计、卡方检验和费舍尔精确检验，以及采用调整后的P值进行成对比较。

环境：

Pac-12联盟大学生水球队。

参与者：

来自4支男子队和5支女子队的96名Pac-12运动员，共记录到124例脑震荡。

独立变量：

球员位置（守门员与场上球员）及受伤地点（训练、比赛或非运动相关）。

主要结果指标：

根据球员位置和受伤地点计算运动相关脑震荡的发病率。

结果：

守门员经历的运动相关脑震荡比例显著高于场上球员（26.2% vs 16.0%，P = 0.005）。大多数守门员的脑震荡是由球与头部接触造成的，而大多数场上球员的脑震荡是由于与其他球员碰撞所致。训练期间和比赛期间遭受的脑震荡数量没有显著差异。

结论：

大学生水球队的守门员比场上球员面临更高的脑震荡风险，特别是在球与头部接触的情况下。当前的安全协议可能对守门员不够充分。未来的研究应考察保护性头盔及改进练习设备在减少脑震荡风险方面的效果，这可能会导致规则的变化。

关键词：

脑震荡；守门员；防护装备；水球。

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