Mapping default mode connectivity alterations following a single season of subconcussive impact exposure in youth football.

ABSTRACT: Repetitive head impact (RHI) exposure in collision sports may contribute to adverse neurological outcomes in former players. In contrast to a concussion, or mild traumatic brain injury, "subconcussive" RHIs represent a more frequent and asymptomatic form of exposure. The neural network-level signatures characterizing subconcussive RHIs in youth collision-sport cohorts such as American Football are not known. Here, we used resting-state functional MRI to examine default mode network (DMN) functional connectivity (FC) following a single football season in youth players (n = 50, ages 8-14) without concussion. Football players demonstrated reduced FC across widespread DMN regions compared with non-collision sport controls at postseason but not preseason. In a subsample from the original cohort

SUBMITTER: DeSimone JC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8090779 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature