Introduction: Sports-related concussions are a major health concern for athletes. Following concussion, athletes can suffer a range of symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, and visual An observational study including elite female athletes aged 15 to 35 years was conducted. Participants were recruited from the Queensland Academy of Sports, Australia, as a sample of convenience. Water polo, football, and rugby 7s players were disturbances. Symptoms presenting following concussion are not condition-specific and often overlap with other conditions such as cervicogenic and vestibular disorders. While most athletes recover within 2 to 4 weeks, age and sex have been reported as risk factors for protracted recovery. Female athletes have been reported to have a greater symptom burden and risk of prolonged recovery following concussion compared with male athletes. Furthermore, female athletes also have a higher risk of sustaining concussions. Despite the increased risk profile, there is currently a lack of understanding of normal baseline symptoms in female athletes. The aim of this study was to establish baseline symptom profile in female athletes participating in sports with a high incidence of concussions. The secondary aims were to examine for differences in symptoms associated with age and history of concussion.

Methods: ncluded. A questionnaire ascertained demographics, medical and concussion history, and sports participation. The Sports Concussion Assessment Tool (SCAT6) was used to establish baseline symptom profile. Descriptive statistics were used to provide means and standard deviations (SD) for symptom profiles. Pearson’s correlation tests were used to investigate the relationship between age and symptom profile. T-tests were conducted to investigate differences in symptom profile in athletes with and without a history of concussion. Significance was set at p < 0.05.

Results: A total of 55 athletes were assessed. There were 26 athletes with a lifetime history of concussion and of these, 11 had a history of concussion in the last 12 months. The means (SD) for age, reported number and severity of symptoms were 18.7 (4.0) years, 7.3 (4.9) symptoms and 12.8 (11.7) severity score. There was a negative correlation between age and number of symptoms (r = -0.39, p = 0.004) and symptom severity (r = -0.35, p = 0.009). There were no differences in the number or severity of symptoms between athletes with and without a history of concussion.

Discussion: Results indicated that younger female athletes had higher symptom profiles in comparison with older athletes. There were no differences in symptom profile in athletes with and without a history of concussion, however, the baseline symptom profile seems relatively high in comparison with male athletes. The results of this study support the ‘dynamic recursive model of sports-related concussion’ which suggests that individual factors and characteristics need to be considered. Understanding that younger female athletes may have higher symptom profiles before concussion may be important to consider when managing female athletes following concussion.

Impact/Application to the field: •Female athletes have higher baseline symptom profiles than male athletes. •Baseline symptom profiles need to be established for female athletes.

Declaration: My co-authors and I acknowledge that we have no conflict of interest of relevance to the submission of this abstract.