Anatomy & Physiology: Current Research
Open Access

Abstract

The Effect of Prior Concussions on Cognitive Performance in Recreational College Athletes

Michaela Patoilo, Taylor Hanayik, Roger D Newman-Norlund, Michael McCall and Chris Rorden

Context: Sports-related concussions impact between 1.6 and 3.0 million athletes annually in the USA. Although the CDC has qualified sports-related concussion as an epidemic, there is a significant lack of data regarding the best way to assess the long-term effects of concussion, especially in recreational athletes.

Objective: To assess the relationship between concussion history and cognitive performance in a group of recreational athletes.

Design: Quantitative cross-sectional study. Setting: University of South Carolina, Columbia SC, USA.

Participants: Healthy college athletes with no prior history of concussion (n=25) and college athletes with a prior history of at least one concussion (n=25).

Main Outcome Measures: Working memory (Paced Visual Serial Addition Test), response inhibition (Go/NoGo task) and decision-making (computer-based visual sorting task).

Results: Athletes with a prior history of concussion showed a trend toward lower accuracy on the working memory task, impaired performance in response inhibition and decision making tasks. Factor analysis of the dependent variables derived from a custom-built test battery identified five factors, when entered into a binary logistic model, correctly classified 80% of participants as either having a prior concussion or not. Results of a stepwise linear regression model revealed that the response inhibition factor was significantly correlated with the number of prior concussions.

Conclusions: Overall, the results indicated impaired cognitive performance in athletes with a prior history of concussion and show that some, but not all cognitive impairments may vary as a function of the number of prior concussions. These data provide further evidence of the negative consequences of concussion and highlight the vital need to increase research and development efforts aimed at creating apt precautionary measures and rehabilitative methods to minimize the effect of concussions in athletes.