ArticleSports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.)2019
Estimated Age of First Exposure to American Football and Neurocognitive Performance Amongst NCAA Male Student-Athletes: A Cohort Study.
Article in Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 52 citations in OpenAlex.
- Demographic and Football-Related Characteristics Associated with Objective Cognitive Performance in Former NFL Players with a Normative Sample Comparison: An NFL-LONG Study.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Article
- Sex, but not exposure-related variables, predicts baseline serum glial fibrillar acidic protein and neurofilament light levels in contact sport athletes.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2026Article
- 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
- Sulcal morphology in former American football players.Brain communications · 2025Article
- Age of First Exposure Does Not Relate to Post-Career Health in Former Professional American-Style Football Players.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2024Article
- 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
- Association Between Head Impact Exposure, Psychological Needs, and Indicators of Mental Health Among U.S. High School Tackle Football Players.The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine · 2023Article
- Age of first exposure to soccer heading: Associations with cognitive, clinical, and imaging outcomes in the Einstein Soccer Study.Frontiers in neurology · 2023Article
- Decreased myelin proteins in brain donors exposed to football-related repetitive head impacts.Brain communications · 2023Article
- Effects of Pre-Collegiate Sport Specialization on Cognitive, Postural, and Psychological Functions: Findings from the NCAA-DoD CARE Consortium.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Exposure to Head Impacts and Cognitive and Behavioral Outcomes in Youth Tackle Football Players Across 4 Seasons.JAMA network open · 2021Article
- Age at First Exposure to Tackle Football is Associated with Cortical Thickness in Former Professional American Football Players.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2021Article
- Predicting Risk of Sport-Related Concussion in Collegiate Athletes and Military Cadets: A Machine Learning Approach Using Baseline Data from the CARE Consortium Study.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2021Article
- Age of First Exposure to Football Is Not Associated With Later-in-Life Cognitive or Mental Health Problems.Frontiers in neurology · 2021Article
- Age of First Exposure to Contact and Collision Sports and Later in Life Brain Health: A Narrative Review.Frontiers in neurology · 2021Review
- Effectiveness of a Computerized Cognitive Training Program for Reducing Head Impact Kinematics in Youth Ice Hockey Players.International journal of exercise science · 2021Article
- The Relationship between Sport-Related Concussion and Sensation-Seeking.International journal of molecular sciences · 2020Article
- Article
- Collision and Contact Sport Participation and Quality of Life Among Adolescent Athletes.Journal of athletic training · 2020Article
- Differential Effects of Acute and Multiple Concussions on Gait Initiation Performance.Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundRepetitive head impacts in young athletes are potentially detrimental to later life (e.g., age 50 + years) neurological function; however, it is unknown what the short-term effects (e.g., age 20 years) are in collegiate student-athletes.
objectiveThe purpose of this study was to determine the effect of the estimated age of first exposure to American tackle football participation on neurocognitive performance and symptom severity scores in collegiate student-athletes.
methodsWe used a cohort study in which neurocognitive performance was assessed using the Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT) test in 4376 male athletes (age 19.3 ± 1.5 years, mass 96.3 ± 20.3 kg, height 185.0 ± 7.4 cm). Athletes were grouped by sport participation [American football (n = 3462) or non-contact (n = 914)] and estimated age of first exposure [< 12 years (n = 3022) or ≥ 12 years (n = 1354)]. The outcome measures were the four primary cognitive scores and the symptom severity score from ImPACT. We assessed primary outcomes across groups, controlling for age, learning accommodations, and concussion history.
resultsNeurocognitive performance was not associated with the estimated age of first exposure-by-group interaction.
conclusionOur findings indicate that participation in American tackle football before age 12 years does not result in neurocognitive deficits in college. Therefore, we suggest the following: the consequences of early exposure to repetitive head impacts do not manifest by college, the ImPACT test was not sensitive enough to identify the effects of an earlier estimated age of first exposure, or there is no association between an earlier estimated age of first exposure and neurocognitive functioning. Future longitudinal studies are warranted.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.