ArticleSports medicine - open2024
The Use of Biofluid Markers to Evaluate the Consequences of Sport-Related Subconcussive Head Impact Exposure: A Scoping Review.
Article in Sports medicine - open, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 3 of them syntheses 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.
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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
11 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Repetitive Head Impacts During Contact Sports and Fluid Biomarkers of Neural Damage: A Meta-analysis.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Pooled it
- Neuron-Specific Enolase as a Biomarker for Selected Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders-A Systematic Review of the Literature.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Pooled it
- Genetic and peripheral biomarkers of comorbid posttraumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury: a systematic review.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Pooled it
- Youth Soccer Participation and Brain Health Outcomes in Adolescent Athletes.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Changes in peripheral blood and cognitive performance after nonconcussive head impacts in elite female soccer players.Communications medicine · 2025Article
- Behind the Eyes-Compensation and Complexity in Head Impacts.JAMA ophthalmology · 2025Article
- Effects of Selective Head-and-Neck Cooling on Brain Injury-Related Biomarker Levels and Symptom Rating Following a Boxing Bout: Protocol for an Exploratory Randomized Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2025Article
- Brain health in Norwegian female former top-level football players: a protocol for a longitudinal cohort study.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Article
- Macular Pigment Carotenoid Supplementation for the Preservation of Visual Structure and Function Following a Collegiate Rugby Season.Eye and brain · 2025Article
- 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
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAmidst growing concern about the safety of sport-related repetitive subconcussive head impacts (RSHI), biofluid markers may provide sensitive, informative, and practical assessment of the effects of RSHI exposure.
objectiveThis scoping review aimed to systematically examine the extent, nature, and quality of available evidence from studies investigating the effects of RSHI on biofluid markers, to identify gaps and to formulate guidelines to inform future research.
methodsPRISMA extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines were adhered to. The protocol was pre-registered through publication. MEDLINE, Scopus, SPORTDiscus, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Cochrane Library, OpenGrey, and two clinical trial registries were searched (until March 30, 2022) using descriptors for subconcussive head impacts, biomarkers, and contact sports. Included studies were assessed for risk of bias and quality.
resultsSeventy-nine research publications were included in the review. Forty-nine studies assessed the acute effects, 23 semi-acute and 26 long-term effects of RSHI exposure. The most studied sports were American football, boxing, and soccer, and the most investigated markers were (in descending order): S100 calcium-binding protein beta (S100B), tau, neurofilament light (NfL), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), neuron-specific enolase (NSE), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), phosphorylated tau (p-tau), ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase L1 (UCH-L1), and hormones. High or moderate bias was found in most studies, and marker-specific conclusions were subject to heterogeneous and limited evidence. Although the evidence is weak, some biofluid markers-such as NfL-appeared to show promise. More markedly, S100B was found to be problematic when evaluating the effects of RSHI in sport.
conclusionConsidering the limitations of the evidence base revealed by this first review dedicated to systematically scoping the evidence of biofluid marker levels following RSHI exposure, the field is evidently still in its infancy. As a result, any recommendation and application is premature. Although some markers show promise for the assessment of brain health following RSHI exposure, future large standardized and better-controlled studies are needed to determine biofluid markers' utility.
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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.