Neurocognitive deficits observed on high school football players with history of concussion: A preliminary study

Sport-related concussion diagnosis, monitoring, treatment, and recovery is rightfully recognized as one of the primary health concerns nowadays. Although much clinical and systematic research, involving athletes of different ages playing different games, has been conducted, there is still a paucity of objective measures to examine and monitor the post-concussion recovery of athletes to make a confident Return to Play (RTP) decision. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the residual symptoms and neurocognitive recovery patterns of concussion by comparing adolescent athletes having a history of one or multiple concussions with athletes who have no previous history of concussion. A variety of neurocognitive assessment tools including ImPACT (Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing) for memory, attention and processing speed, K-D (King-Devick) test for visual and suboptimal brain function analysis, and BESS (Balance Error Scoring System) to examine postural stability, were been combined. A significant difference was detected for the ImPACT test during impulse control and processing speed subtests. The analysis also revealed long-term concussion effects on the performance of athletes who had multiple concussion histories. These enduring neurocognitive deficits observed from this study suggest that athletes with concussion history may require more prolonged recovery time compared to healthy athletes.