ArticlePloS one2020
Soccer heading and concussion are not associated with reduced brain volume or cortical thickness.
Article in PloS one, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 16 citations in OpenAlex.
- Brain MRI findings associated with soccer heading: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Neuroradiology · 2026Pooled it
- Soccer heading and white matter microstructural changes: a two-year longitudinal cohort study.Brain imaging and behavior · 2026Article
- Soccer Heading Exposure-Dependent Microstructural Injury at Depths of Sulci in Adult Amateur Players.Neurology · 2025Article
- Differences in Anatomical Structures and Resting-State Brain Networks Between Elite Wrestlers and Handball Athletes.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- Cognitive functioning and soccer heading: one-year longitudinal assessment among professional players.Arquivos de neuro-psiquiatria · 2025Article
- Self-reported concussion history is not related to cortical volume in college athletes.PloS one · 2025Article
- High-magnitude headers are not associated with structural and functional brain changes in active high-level football (soccer) players.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2025Article
- Article
- Multiparameter cortical surface morphology in former amateur contact sport athletes.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2024Article
- Cerebral Cortical Surface Structure and Neural Activation Pattern Among Adolescent Football Players.JAMA network open · 2024Article
- Individualized monitoring of longitudinal heading exposure in soccer.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Oral Contraceptives, Concussion History, and Contact-Sport Exposure: Multimodal MRI and Brain Injury Biomarkers in Female Athletes.Neurotrauma reportsArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Soccer is the most popular sport in the world and, since it is a contact sport, players are at risk for head injury, including concussion. Here, we proposed to investigate the association of heading and concussion with macroscopic brain structure among adult amateur soccer players. For this study, 375 amateur soccer players (median age 23 years) completed HeadCount-12m to estimate heading over the 12 months prior to MRI and lifetime concussion. T1-weighted 3D magnetization prepared rapid acquisition gradient echo (MP-RAGE) MRI was performed at 3 Tesla. Parcellation was performed using Freesurfer to extract regional gray and white matter volumes as well as regional cortical thickness and total intracranial volume. Regional cortical brain volumes were normalized by total intracranial volume. We categorized heading into quartiles and concussion as 0, 1 or 2 or more. Generalized linear regressions were used to test the association of heading or concussion with each brain morphometry metric, including age and sex, as covariates. Neither heading nor concussion were associated with reduced brain volume or cortical thickness. We observed that greater heading was associated with greater gray matter volume in the left inferior parietal area, which may reflect effects related to training.
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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.