Cognitive effects of one season of head impacts in a cohort of collegiate contact sport athletes.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To determine whether exposure to repetitive head impacts over a single season negatively affects cognitive performance in collegiate contact sport athletes.

Methods

This is a prospective cohort study at 3 Division I National Collegiate Athletic Association athletic programs. Participants were 214 Division I college varsity football and ice hockey players who wore instrumented helmets that recorded the acceleration-time history of the head following impact, and 45 noncontact sport athletes. All athletes were assessed prior to and shortly after the season with a cognitive screening battery (ImPACT) and a subgroup of athletes also were assessed with 7 measures from a neuropsychological test battery.

Results

Few cognitive differences were found between the athle

SUBMITTER: McAllister TW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3359587 | biostudies-literature | 2012 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature