Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
  • Publication
    Clinical recovery of amateur athletes who present to the emergency department within one-week following sport-related concussion: a one-year prospective, matched-cohort study
    (University College Dublin. School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science, 2021) ;
    0000-0002-5987-3063
    Sport-related concussion is a major public health burden due to its concerning prevalence and possible negative, long-term consequences on brain health. However, approximately 85% of athletes recover within two weeks following sport-related concussion when assessed using self-reported symptoms, computerised neurocognitive testing, and clinician-administered static balance performance. This is a relatively consistent finding across existing studies, and across the spectrum of sex, age, sport, and level of play. Despite the acute clinical recovery experienced by most athletes following sport-related concussion, a notable minority experience a prolonged recovery that is characterised by persistent symptoms, adverse health related quality-of-life, and delayed return-to-sporting activity. Sport-related concussion typically induces a variety of impairments that involve many body systems. The complex array of somatic, cognitive, vestibular, oculomotor, autonomic, sensorimotor, and psychological impairments that can manifest following sport-related concussion underscores the need for many outcome measures to longitudinally identify concussion-associated impairments. In the absence of a comprehensive and longitudinal assessment incorporating many outcome measures, concussion-associated impairments may go unidentified. The clinical time-course of concussion recovery beyond three months and up to one-year after injury remains relatively under-investigated in the concussion literature. Consequently, it is unclear whether athletes experience impaired, or fluctuating, outcomes in the year following sport-related concussion that may contribute towards adverse brain health in later-life. Patient-, clinician-, and laboratory-based outcome measures assess different constructs with varying granularity and, when assessed simultaneously, enable a more holistic understanding of the wide spectrum of patient health and disability that a patient may experience after injury. To this end, we assessed patient-, clinician-, and laboratory-based outcomes within a clinical outcomes assessment framework to prospectively investigate the one-year recovery of athletes who presented to a university-affiliated hospital emergency department within one-week following sport-related concussion.
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  • Publication
    COVID-19 prevention and control measures in workplace settings: a rapid review and meta-analysis
    Workplaces can be high-risk environments for SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks and subsequent community transmission. Identifying, understanding, and implementing effective workplace SARS-CoV-2 infection prevention and control (IPC) measures is critical to protect workers, their families, and communities. A rapid review and meta-analysis were conducted to synthesize evidence assessing the effectiveness of COVID-19 IPC measures implemented in global workplace settings through April 2021. Medline, Embase, PubMed, and Cochrane Library were searched for studies that quantitatively assessed the effectiveness of workplace COVID-19 IPC measures. The included studies comprised varying empirical designs and occupational settings. Measures of interest included surveillance measures, outbreak investigations, environmental adjustments, personal protective equipment (PPE), changes in work arrangements, and worker education. Sixty-one studies from healthcare, nursing home, meatpacking, manufacturing, and office settings were included, accounting for ~280,000 employees based in Europe, Asia, and North America. Meta-analyses showed that combined IPC measures resulted in lower employee COVID-19 positivity rates (0.2% positivity; 95% CI 0–0.4%) than single measures such as asymptomatic PCR testing (1.7%; 95% CI 0.9–2.9%) and universal masking (24%; 95% CI 3.4–55.5%). Modelling studies showed that combinations of (i) timely and widespread contact tracing and case isolation, (ii) facilitating smaller worker cohorts, and (iii) effective use of PPE can reduce workplace transmission. Comprehensive COVID-19 IPC measures incorporating swift contact tracing and case isolation, PPE, and facility zoning can effectively prevent workplace outbreaks. Masking alone should not be considered sufficient protection from SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks in the workplace.
    Scopus© Citations 52  335
  • Publication
    COVID-19 prevention and control measures in workplace settings: a rapid review and meta-analysis
    Workplaces are high-risk environments for SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks and subsequent community transmission. Identifying, understanding, and implementing effective workplace SARS-CoV-2 infection prevention and control (IPC) measures is critical to protect workers, their families, and communities.
      84
  • Publication
    Wearable sensing and mobile devices: the future of post-concussion monitoring?
    In the past decade, concussion has received large amounts of attention in public, medical and research circles. While our understanding of the nature and management of concussion has greatly improved, there are still major limitations which need to be addressed surrounding the identification of the injury, determining when an individual is safe to return to normal activity, and what factors may contribute to the development of post-concussion syndrome (PCS).The current model of concussion management involves a triage evaluation in the acute stage of injury, focusing on the classic signs and symptoms of concussion. Next, the clinician attempts to evaluate key components of cerebral function through clinical symptom evaluation, and traditional assessments of motor and neurocognitive function [1]. The development of the sports concussion assessment tool (SCAT) saw a massive leap forward in the strategies employed in the management of concussion, as it acknowledged the multifactorial nature of concussion, and provided a standardised means for clinicians to assess the many domains of cerebral function [2]. While these methods have demonstrated some promise in the acute stage, they are not designed for serial monitoring (particularly in instances where PCS develops) [3], and provide us with very little clinically relevant information that can assist clinicians in the return to learn/ sport/ performance process.
      411
  • Publication
    COVID-19 workplace impacts - Irish OSH professionals experience and observations
    COVID-19 has had a significant impact on workers, arising from adaptations to control measures and consequent behaviour changes that minimise disease spread in the workplace. From an occupational safety & health (OSH) perspective, understanding how adaptations and behaviour changes have impacted workers is relevant to how organisations can preserve the health of their workers when adapting to future health emergencies.
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