Abstract
Sensitive and reliable tools are needed to evaluate potential behavioral and cognitive changes following head impact exposure in contact and collision sport participation. We evaluated change in oculomotor testing performance among female, varsity, collegiate athletes following variable exposure to head impacts across a season. Female, collegiate, contact sport (soccer, CONT) and non-contact sport (NON-CONT) athletes were assessed pre-season and post-season. Soccer athletes were grouped according to total season game headers into low dose (≤40 headers; CONT-Low Dose) or high dose (>40 headers; CONT-High Dose) groups. Performance on pro-saccade (reflexive visual response), anti-saccade (executive inhibition), and memory-guided saccade (MGS, spatial working memory) computer-based laboratory tasks were assessed. Primary saccade measures included latency/reaction time, inhibition error rate (anti-saccade only), and spatial accuracy (MGS only). NON-CONT (n = 20), CONT-Low Dose (n = 17), and CONT-High Dose (n = 7) groups significantly differed on pre-season versus post-season latency on tasks with executive functioning demands (anti-saccade and MGS, p ≤ 0.001). Specifically, NON-CONT and CONT-Low Dose demonstrated shorter (i.e., faster) anti-saccade (1.84% and 2.68%, respectively) and MGS (5.74% and 2.76%, respectively) latencies from pre-season to post-season, whereas CONT-High Dose showed 1.40% average longer anti-saccade, and 0.74% shorter MGS, latencies. NON-CONT and CONT-Low Dose demonstrated reduced (i.e., improved) inhibition error rate on the anti-saccade task at post-season versus pre-season, whereas CONT-High Dose demonstrated relative stability (p = 0.021). The results of this study suggest differential exposure to subconcussive head impacts in collegiate female athletes is associated with differential change in reaction time and inhibitory control performances on executive saccadic oculomotor testing.
Highlights
Participation in contact and collision sports increases an individual’s exposure to head impacts, which may yield concussive or subconcussive injuries
Groups significantly differed by history of previous concussion and history of learning disability and/or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); none of these variables were associated with oculomotor performance at baseline or change over time
In this study evaluating the use of oculomotor testing to detect differential change in cognitive and sensorimotor processing following variable exposure to head impacts over the course of a competitive season, we found that non-contact sport female athletes and female soccer players with relatively lower header exposure demonstrated faster oculomotor reaction time from pre- to post-season, likely attributable to practice effects, on tasks with executive functioning demands, whereas female soccer players with relatively higher header exposure remained stable or subtly declined from pre- to post-season
Summary
Participation in contact and collision sports increases an individual’s exposure to head impacts, which may yield concussive or subconcussive injuries. Subconcussive injuries occur in the absence of clinical signs or symptoms, but pathophysiological changes in the brain, including vasculature and white matter alterations, may occur and may have cumulative adverse effects over time.[1,2,3,4] Some studies suggest chronic exposure to repetitive head impacts may be associated with a Virginia T.
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