Academic consequences of very mild and mild traumatic brain injuries in secondary school rugby players

Abstract

Information on the consequences of mild traumatic brain injuries (MTBI#) on secondary school rugby players has been documented, but studies on the academic consequences of repetitive sub-concussive injuries or so-called very mild traumatic brain injuries (vMTBI) are lacking. The aim of this study was to compare the last two years academic performances of secondary school rugby players suffering very mild (vMTBI), and mild traumatic brain injuries (MTBI) with sedentary control group. A cohort of 35 secondary school male rugby players (divided into a sub-concussive (vMTBI) group (group 1) (n=26) and a concussive (MTBI) group (group 2) (n=9) at the end of a secondary school rugby season and ten (n=10) participants that were not involved in contact sport (control group 3), were used. The academic results of the participants in the subjects Afrikaans, English, Mathematics and Sciences were obtained from the secondary school records. Group 1 (vMTBI group) and group 2 (MTBI group) showed a statistically significant (p≤0.05) decrease in academic performance in Afrikaans when compared between year 1 and year 2, (group 1, p=0.017; group 2, p=0.016). A multi-centred prospective study, ensuring a large sample size is necessary to evaluate more definite findings. Key words: Academic performance, concussion, neuropsychological tests, rugby, sub-concussive injuries.