• V Gouttebarge and KerkhoffsG M M JGMMJAmsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Amsterdam Movement Sciences, 9, Meibergdreef, 1105 Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Academic Center for Evidence-Based Sports Medicine (ACES), Amsterdam University M.
• Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Amsterdam Movement Sciences, 9, Meibergdreef, 1105 Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Academic Center for Evidence-Based Sports Medicine (ACES), Amsterdam University Medical Centers, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Amsterdam Collaboration on Health & Safety in Sports, Amsterdam UMC IOC Research Center of Excellence, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Division of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa. Electronic address: v.gouttebarge@amsterdamumc.nl.
• Neurochirurgie. 2021 May 1; 67 (3): 280-282.

BackgroundIn elite sports, concussion is common and recurrent, especially in high-speed contact or collision sports such as american and australian football, ice hockey and rugby. Mental health symptoms (e.g., anxiety, depression, sleep disturbance) are often reported by former elite athletes, with prevalence ranging from 16% for distress to 26% for anxiety/depression. This article focuses on the potential relationship between sports career-related concussion and mental health symptoms in former elite athletes.MethodA narrative mini-review was based on the scientific literature.ResultsSome literature based on cross-sectional data suggests that sports career-related concussion might lead in the long term to mental health symptoms in former elite athletes. Retired professional American football players reporting three or more previous concussions were found to be three times more likely to be diagnosed with depression than those with no history of concussion. Former professional athletes from football, ice hockey and rugby who reported a history of six or more concussions were approximately up to five times more likely to report mental health symptoms.ConclusionsWhile longitudinal evidence about any causal relationship is lacking, the suggested relationship between sports career-related concussion and mental health symptoms in former elite athletes warrants the development of support measures for elite athletes transitioning out of sport, especially for those with a history of concussion.Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

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