Archives of clinical neuropsychology : the official journal of the National Academy of Neuropsychologists
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Arch Clin Neuropsychol · Jul 2005
Assessing the enduring residual neuropsychological effects of head trauma in college athletes who participate in contact sports.
The present study examined the enduring residual neuropsychological effects of head trauma in college athletes using the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS), Postconcussion Syndrome Checklist, and the Stroop task. Based on a brief self-report concussion history survey, male and female athletes who participated in ice hockey, field hockey, lacrosse, and/or soccer were assigned to one of three concussion-history conditions: Non-concussed, Non-recent concussed (i.e., more than 2 years since last concussion), or Recent concussed (i.e., 2 years or less since last concussion). A fourth group of subjects consisting of non-concussed/non-athletes served in the control condition. ⋯ In recent concussed athletes, lower delayed memory scores correlated with more severe Postconcussion Symptom Checklist scores (r = -.90), while more severe/higher number of concussions correlated with increased processing speed on the Stroop interference task (r = .90). These findings indicate that recent head injury produces alterations in neuropsychological function, especially that of memory, that resolve with time. More provocatively, the data also suggest that participation in contact sports may produce sub-clinical cognitive impairments in the absence of a diagnosable concussion presumably resulting from the cumulative consequences produced by multiple mild head trauma.