ArticleSports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.)2026
Demographic and Football-Related Characteristics Associated with Objective Cognitive Performance in Former NFL Players with a Normative Sample Comparison: An NFL-LONG Study.
Article in Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
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
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundRisk for neurocognitive disorder is a growing concern for contact sport athletes owing to reports associating head impact exposure (HIE) metrics and cognitive function.
objectiveTo (1) examine the associations and relative importance between objective cognitive performance, demographics, and HIE metrics of former National Football League (NFL) players and (2) compare cognitive performance between former NFL players and matched samples.
methodsCross-sectional analysis of former NFL players (n = 295, age: 54.1 ± 14.8 years) using a remote neurocognitive assessment platform (TestMyBrain) collected between March 2022 and October 2022. Players were 1:1 propensity score matched to general population normative male samples on age, race, and highest education level. Cognitive subtests included digit symbol matching (DSM), gradual onset continuous performance test (Grad CPT), trail making test parts A and B (Trails-A -B), paired associates memory for verbal (Verbal PA), paired associates memory for visual (Visual PA), and vocabulary. The HIE metrics examined were age of first exposure to football (AFE), lifetime exposure to football, professional career duration, and lifetime concussion history. Multivariable linear regressions with dominance analysis examined associations and relative importance of demographic data and HIE metrics on cognitive performance; independent t-tests examined group differences across cognitive subtests using mean differences (MDs) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CIs).
resultsAge, race, and highest education demonstrated complete dominance over all HIE metrics across the seven cognitive subtests among former NFL players. Professional football career duration demonstrated overall general to complete dominance over the majority of HIE metrics across cognitive subtests, such that greater career duration was associated with lower cognitive performance, while AFE was often dominated by other HIE metrics. Compared to the normative sample, former NFL players had significantly lower DSM (MD: - 3.45, 95% CI - 5.97, - 0.92), Grad CPT (MD: - 14.62, 95% CI - 16.61, - 12.64), Verbal PA (MD: - 5.04, 95% CI - 5.90, - 4.18), Visual PA (MD: - 1.18, 95% CI - 1.90, - 0.46), and vocabulary performance (MD: - 3.84, 95% CI - 5.45, - 2.24), while Trails A and B were not statistically different (p ≥ 0.06).
conclusionsDemographic factors were completely dominant over HIE metrics for cognitive performance. Among only HIE metrics, professional football career duration superseded lifetime concussion history and AFE. Worse cognitive performance was observed among former NFL players compared with a matched normative sample with varying effect sizes.
Identifiers
42463589What 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.