Abstract
Background: Concussion is the most prevalent form of traumatic brain injury. Western countries debate it as a public health issue. Middle Eastern (ME) countries lag behind with a concussion incidence surveillance of 25% that of European countries. 
 
 Objective: The purpose of our study was to review concussion resulting from traumatic brain or sports injuries in civilian nationals of the ME.
 
 Methods: We carried out PubMed literature search of all related articles in the past thirty years using search terms reflecting concussion and sports injuries in ME countries of Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. 
 
 Results: 72 articles met our search criteria with relatively little data found on concussion within the parameters of this review. However, the reports that were found were diverse. Israel, Turkey and Iran led in publications. Motor vehicle accidents were the leading cause of concussion from TBI (50-57%) followed by domestic injuries (30-40%) and sports injuries at 4-7%. Extremity injuries were most commonly reported unlike head injuries often invisible and underreported. Male gender, young children, pedestrian and car traffic accidents, lack of protective gear, cell phone use, impulsive behaviors as well as training overload, lack of sleep, contact sports and violence were all risk factors for concussion. 
 
 Conclusions: In this review, we highlighted the nascent topic of concussion in the ME and the need for additional research dictating awareness programs and implementing new safety policies to lower morbidity and mortality across all ages.
Highlights
Concussion is the most common form of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and is often defined as mild TBI with disruption in the normal function of the brain that can be caused by a blow, or a jolt to the head, or a penetrating head injury (Kazl & Torres, 2019)
72 articles met our search criteria with relatively little data found on concussion within the parameters of this review
The reports that were found were diverse.: from kickboxing and TBI in Qatar and Turkey (Slimani et al, 2017; Tanrivedi et al, 2007), fishing and aerial sport injuries as well as boxing related injuries in Turkey (Aydin, 2019; Cevik et al, 2016; Tanrivedi et al, 2008), to contact football and other team balls in Iran and Israel (Kordi et al, 2013; Kaplan et al, 2013), to new data on E-Biking with resulting serious injuries in Israel and Iran (Gross et al, 2018; Vahdati et al, 2016), rollover crashes as well as injuries related to Taekwondo and Karate in Iran (Anarkooli et al, 2017; Ziaee et al, 2010; Halabchi et al, 2007) and lastly camel jockeying injury in United Arab Emirates (UAE) (Abu-Zidan et al, 2012)
Summary
Concussion is the most common form of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and is often defined as mild TBI (mTBI) with disruption in the normal function of the brain that can be caused by a blow, or a jolt to the head, or a penetrating head injury (Kazl & Torres, 2019). It has attracted more attention in Western countries given its close relationship to sports injury. Despite the growing awareness in Western countries, many countries still face an underreporting in their concussion incidence surveillance. The lack of surveillance on concussion has led to a reported incidence at 25% value of the reported European incidence for the same sport. This paper is intended to review the topic of concussion in general and concussion as it relates to sports injury in the Middle East (ME). Concussion is the most prevalent form of traumatic brain injury. Western countries debate it as a public health issue. Middle Eastern (ME) countries lag behind with a concussion incidence surveillance of 25% that of European countries
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