ArticleSports health
Interrelationships Among Neuroimaging Biomarkers, Neuropsychological Test Data, and Symptom Reporting in a Cohort of Retired National Football League Players.
Article in Sports health. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Systematic Review of the Long-Term Neuroimaging Correlates of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury and Repetitive Head Injuries.Frontiers in neurology · 2021Pooled it
- History of Sport-Related Concussion and Long-Term Clinical Cognitive Health Outcomes in Retired Athletes: A Systematic Review.Journal of athletic training · 2020Pooled it
- Prevalence of anxiety and depression in former elite athletes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2024Article
- Quantifying and Examining Reserve in Symptomatic Former National Football League Players.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2022Article
- Examining for Cavum Septum Pellucidum and Ventricular Enlargement in Retired Elite-Level Rugby League Players.Frontiers in neurology · 2022Article
- Developing methods to detect and diagnose chronic traumatic encephalopathy during life: rationale, design, and methodology for the DIAGNOSE CTE Research Project.Alzheimer's research & therapy · 2021Article
- Neuroimaging Biomarkers of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy: Targets for the Academic Memory Disorders Clinic.Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2021Review
- Prevalence and Incidence of Microhemorrhages in Adolescent Football Players.AJNR. American journal of neuroradiology · 2020Article
- Estimated Age of First Exposure to American Football and Neurocognitive Performance Amongst NCAA Male Student-Athletes: A Cohort Study.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2019Article
- Prevalence and Correlates of Psychological Distress among Retired Elite Athletes: A Systematic Review.International review of sport and exercise psychology · 2019Article
- Multimodal Imaging of Retired Professional Contact Sport Athletes Does Not Provide Evidence of Structural and Functional Brain Damage.The Journal of head trauma rehabilitationArticle
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundStructural brain changes, potentially resulting from repetitive brain trauma (RBT), have been correlated with neurocognitive decline and increased symptom reporting in retired athletes. HYPOTHESIS: In a cohort of retired National Football League (NFL) players, the relationships between 3 neuroimaging parameters, neuropsychological testing, and symptom scores will be significantly correlated. STUDY
designCross-sectional study. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level 3.
methodsComprehensive magnetic resonance imaging was performed in 45 retired NFL players. Three neuroanatomical parameters were assessed by board-certified radiologists blinded to the purpose of the study: (1) the absence or presence of small or large cavum septum pellucidum, (2) a global mean score of fractional anisotropy (FA), and (3) the presence or absence of microhemorrhages. The subjects underwent a battery of 9 paper-and-pencil neuropsychological tests, a computerized neurocognitive test, and multiple symptom and depression scales. The associations among the neuroimaging results with these outcome measures were assessed utilizing Pearson, Spearman rank, and point-biserial correlations.
resultsThe 45 subjects (mean age, 46.7 ± 9.1 years) reported a mean 6.9 (±6.2) concussions and 13.0 (±7.9) "dings" in the NFL. Ten (22%) did not have a cavum septum pellucidum, while 32 (71%) had a small and 3 (7%) had a large one. Four (9%) had microhemorrhages. Global FA mean was 0.459 (±0.035). The majority (50.8%) of correlations among the neuroimaging parameters and neurocognitive/symptom scores fell below the threshold of "small" effect size ( r < 0.10). The remaining (49.2%) correlations were between "small" and "medium" effect sizes (0.1 < r < 0.3). However, all correlations were statistically nonsignificant.
conclusionThere were minimal and statistically nonsignificant correlations among the neuroimaging, neurocognitive, and symptom scores examined in this cohort of NFL retirees. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Associating the severity of structural brain changes to neurocognitive performance and symptom burden after RBT is complex may involve other moderating variables or biomarkers, and demands further study.
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