ArticleJournal of neurotrauma2018
Age at First Exposure to Repetitive Head Impacts Is Associated with Smaller Thalamic Volumes in Former Professional American Football Players.
Article in Journal of neurotrauma, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 53 papers.
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Who cites it
53 citing papers in PubMed.
- Younger Age of First Exposure to American Football Is Associated with Worse Informant-Reported Clinical Outcomes in Older Age Brain Donors.Journal of neurotrauma · 2026Article
- The study of epigenetic clocks in former professional contact sports athletes with repetitive head impacts.Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry · 2026Article
- Cognitive and Neuropsychiatric Function in Former American Football Players.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Dose-dependent white matter changes associated with repetitive head impacts in former American football players.Brain communications · 2026Article
- The Relationship of Prior Concussion and Contact Sport Exposure With Cortical Macro and Microstructure.Human brain mapping · 2025Article
- Single- versus two-test criteria for cognitive impairment: associations with CSF and imaging markers in former American football players.The Clinical neuropsychologist · 2025Article
- Long-term neurobehavioral and neuroimaging outcomes in athletes with prior concussion(s) and head impact exposure.The Clinical neuropsychologist · 2025Review
- The Association Between Age of First Exposure to American Football at a Young Age and Later-Life Health Issues in Healthy, Community-Dwelling Adults.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2025Article
- Shape analysis of the amygdala, hippocampus and thalamus in former American football players.Brain communications · 2025Article
- Examination of plasma biomarkers of amyloid, tau, neurodegeneration, and neuroinflammation in former elite American football players.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2024Article
- Brain morphometry in former American football players: findings from the DIAGNOSE CTE research project.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2024Article
- Age of First Exposure Does Not Relate to Post-Career Health in Former Professional American-Style Football Players.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2024Article
- Longitudinal Changes in Regional Brain Volumes and Cognition of Professional Fighters With Traumatic Encephalopathy Syndrome.Neurology · 2023Article
- Sparring and the Brain: The Associations between Sparring and Regional Brain Volumes in Professional Mixed Martial Arts Fighters.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2023Article
- Comparison of Various Metrics of Repetitive Head Impact Exposure And Their Associations With Neurocognition in Collegiate-Aged Athletes.Archives of clinical neuropsychology : the official journal of the National Academy of Neuropsychologists · 2023Article
- A Review of the Most Recent Clinical and Neuropathological Criteria for Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Relating American Football Age of First Exposure to Patient-Reported Outcomes and Medical Diagnoses Among Former National Football League Players: An NFL-LONG study.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2023Article
- Improving Cognitive Function Through High-Intensity Interval Training in Breast Cancer Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2023Article
- White matter hyperintensities in former American football players.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2023Article
- Long-Term Changes in Brain Connectivity Reflected in Quantitative Electrophysiology of Symptomatic Former National Football League Players.Journal of neurotrauma · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
19 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Thalamic atrophy has been associated with exposure to repetitive head impacts (RHI) in professional fighters. The aim of this study is to investigate whether or not age at first exposure (AFE) to RHI is associated with thalamic volume in symptomatic former National Football League (NFL) players at risk for chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Eighty-six symptomatic former NFL players (mean age = 54.9 ± 7.9 years) were included. T1-weighted data were acquired on a 3T magnetic resonance imager, and thalamic volumes were derived using FreeSurfer. Mood and behavior, psychomotor speed, and visual and verbal memory were assessed. The association between thalamic volume and AFE to playing football and to number of years playing was calculated. Decreased thalamic volume was associated with more years of play (left: p = 0.03; right: p = 0.03). Younger AFE was associated with decreased right thalamic volume (p = 0.014). This association remained significant after adjusting for total years of play. Decreased left thalamic volume was associated with worse visual memory (p = 0.014), whereas increased right thalamic volume was associated with fewer mood and behavior symptoms (p = 0.003). In our sample of symptomatic former NFL players at risk for CTE, total years of play and AFE were associated with decreased thalamic volume. The effect of AFE on right thalamic volume was almost twice as strong as the effect of total years of play. Our findings confirm previous reports of an association between thalamic volume and exposure to RHI. They suggest further that younger AFE may result in smaller thalamic volume later in life.
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