ArticleBMJ open sport & exercise medicine2018
Heading in soccer increases serum neurofilament light protein and SCAT3 symptom metrics.
Article in BMJ open sport & exercise medicine, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 68 citations in OpenAlex.
- Repetitive Head Impacts During Contact Sports and Fluid Biomarkers of Neural Damage: A Meta-analysis.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Pooled it
- Neurophysiological Effects of Repeated Soccer Heading in Youth.Journal of biomechanical engineering · 2023Trial
- Trial
- Association between downhill mountain bike racing and neurophysiological indices of sensory, attentional and cognitive processing in youth athletes.JSAMS plus · 2026Article
- Youth Soccer Participation and Brain Health Outcomes in Adolescent Athletes.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Non-concussive impacts, cognition, and the menstrual cycle: a proof-of-concept study of elite female footballers.Experimental brain research · 2026Article
- Neurophysiology of Downhill Mountain Bike Athletes-Benchmark Assessments of Event-Related Potentials.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The Acute Effects of Non-concussive Head Impacts on Brain Microstructure, Chemistry and Function in Male Soccer Players: A Pilot Randomised Controlled Trial.Sports medicine - open · 2025Article
- Annual level changes of serum neuronal and glial biomarkers in a German professional football club.Journal of neurology · 2025Article
- Acute blood biomarker responses to consensual sexual choking/strangulation in young adult women: a randomized crossover study.Frontiers in global women's health · 2025Article
- Impact of fish oil supplementation on plasma levels of highly unsaturated fatty acid-containing lipid classes and molecular species in American football athletes.Nutrition & metabolism · 2024Article
- A Pilot Study Investigating the Use of Serum Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein to Monitor Changes in Brain White Matter Integrity After Repetitive Head Hits During a Single Collegiate Football Game.Journal of neurotrauma · 2024Article
- The Use of Biofluid Markers to Evaluate the Consequences of Sport-Related Subconcussive Head Impact Exposure: A Scoping Review.Sports medicine - open · 2024Article
- The spectrum of acute and chronic consequences of neurotrauma in professional and amateur boxing - A call to action is advocated to better understand and prevent this phenomenon.Brain & spine · 2024Review
- Neuroimaging, wearable sensors, and blood-based biomarkers reveal hyperacute changes in the brain after sub-concussive impacts.Brain multiphysics · 2023Article
- Article
- Association Between Serum Neurofilament Light and Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein Levels and Head Impact Burden in Women's Collegiate Water Polo.Journal of neurotrauma · 2023Observational
- Neurovascular coupling on trial: How the number of trials completed impacts the accuracy and precision of temporally derived neurovascular coupling estimates.Journal of cerebral blood flow and metabolism : official journal of the International Society of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism · 2022Article
- Serum neurofilament light in professional soccer players: goal on safety.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2022Article
- An acute bout of controlled subconcussive impacts can alter dynamic cerebral autoregulation indices: a preliminary investigation.European journal of applied physiology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 4 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo determine the effect of heading a soccer ball on serum neurofilament light (NF-L) protein, plasma tau protein and symptom metrics including total number of symptoms reported and symptom severity scores on the Standardized Concussion Assessment Tool- 3rd edition (SCAT3).
methodsEleven male collegiate soccer players were recruited to take part in three experimental conditions including heading, sham and control conditions. Participants were required to perform 40 headers in 20 min in the heading condition, and control 40 soccer balls directed at them with their hands, chest or thigh in the sham condition. No ball contact was made during the control condition. Blood sampling and SCAT3 symptom assessments were completed prior to and 1 hour following conditions. A subset of participants returned 3 weeks following the heading condition for blood sampling.
resultsNF-L was elevated at 1 hour (p=0.004) and 1 month (p=0.04) following the heading condition, and at 1 hour (p=0.02) following the control condition. Tau levels remained unchanged following all conditions. The total number of symptoms (TS) and symptom severity (SS) scores from the SCAT3 were both elevated following the heading condition (p=0.01 and p=0.03, respectively). Both TS and SS decreased following sham (p=0.04 and p=0.04) and control conditions (p=0.04 and p=0.04).
conclusionAn acute bout of soccer heading is associated with increased NF-L concentrations at 1 hour and 1 month following the session and can lead to symptoms commonly reported following sport-related concussion.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.