Sport Concussion Assessment Tool—5th Edition (SCAT5) normative reference values for professional men's rugby league players

Objectives: To provide normative reference values for the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool – 5th Edition for elite-level male rugby league players. Design: A descriptive cross-sectional study. Methods: Baseline Sport Concussion Assessment Tool – 5th Edition scores were obtained from 1005 National Rugby League players during the 2018 and 2019 preseasons. Normative values were calculated for the Standardized Assessment of Concussion, Symptom Evaluation (i.e., severity and number), and the Modified Balance Error Scoring System for each group and in total. Players self-identified their cultural heritage or ethnicity to be ‘Pasifika (Pacific Islander) or Maori’ (n = 243; 24.2 %) or ‘Indigenous Australian’ (n = 82; 8.2 %). Those who identified as any other race, ethnicity, or cultural heritage were combined into a single group (n = 680; 67.7 %). Results: In total the median Standardized Assessment of Concussion score was 27 (interquartile range = 25–28), the median symptom severity was 0 (interquartile range = 0–2), the median symptom number was 0 (interquartile range = 0–1), and the median the Modified Balance Error Scoring System error score was 3 (interquartile range = 1–5). Reporting 4 of 22 symptoms and 6 of 132 on the total severity score was uncommon. There was no significant difference between the cultural heritage or ethnicity groups for Standardized Assessment of Concussion scores, symptom severity or number, or Modified Balance Error Scoring System errors (p-values > 0.05). Conclusions: This normative data will assist with the clinical interpretation of Sport Concussion Assessment Tool – 5th Edition scores following a concussion in the National Rugby League.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2025.03.002