Progress of Female Athlete Representation in Research Influencing International Conference on Concussion in Sport Consensus Statements: An Evidence Review

Abstract

We aimed to quantify the representation of female athletes in research informing the fifth (Berlin 2016) and sixth (Amsterdam 2022) International Conference on Concussion in Sport consensus statements and analyze trends in progress between the statements. We identified all original research analyzed in each systematic review influencing the consensus statements and determined the percentage of female subjects for each study. Twenty-two systematic reviews and 1,161 original studies were reviewed (572 studies from Berlin 2016 and 1,089 from Amsterdam 2022). Both statements underrepresented females; however, there were significantly fewer studies with no female subjects in the 2022 statement, and more studies with a near equivalent (40%–60%) representation of females. While female athletes are still underrepresented within original research influencing international consensus statements, improvements are evident. We recommend a continued emphasis on female athlete representation and suggest a female-focused component of upcoming statements along with involvement from female predominant sponsoring associations.