October 2024
Cognitive and behavioural outcomes after nonprofessional sports-related concussion examined
By Melanie Hinze
Clinicians are urged to consider all aspects of a patient’s brain health history when making decisions around cognitive and behavioural outcomes in those with a history of concussion, says an Australian expert.
Although new research published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry indicated that concussion in nonprofessional sport might not be meaningful in the long term, an Australian expert has cautioned that the research should be considered in light of the bigger picture for each patient.
The research included 15,214 community-dwelling UK adults aged 50 to 90 years who were grouped according to their history of concussion type (nonprofessional sport-related concussion [SRC], non-sports-related concussion [non SRC], no concussion or mixed concussion types). Participants were also grouped according to the number of concussions experienced.
The researchers found that participants with SRC showed no long-term cognitive or behavioural deficits compared with those with no concussions, and in fact showed better performance in working memory and verbal reasoning at baseline. By contrast, participants with nonSRC had deficits in processing speed, attention and the mild behavioural impairment (MBI Checklist) index.
However, Professor Alan Pearce, Adjunct Research Fellow in the School of Health Science at Swinburne Neuro imaging Facility, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, said that brain health history needs to be taken for all individuals who play contact sport, just like it does for smoking, drinking, drug use and any other risky behaviour.
‘So this means whether they were concussed, how many times they were concussed, where did the concussion come from and also how many years did they play contact sport,’ said Professor Pearce.
The other thing to consider with this study is its limitations, he said.
‘Firstly, the retrospective nature of the data should be considered,’ he said, noting that the participants were asked to recall their concussions history from several decades earlier, which comes with limitations.
Secondly, this study used a UK database, and it was not known in which sports partici pants were concussed. He said it was likely, for example, that rugby league would not have been included.
In addition to these factors, ‘anyone who was diagnosed with dementia was removed from the dataset.’
Professor Pearce said the key message should probably be not to dismiss sports concussions.
‘It doesn’t matter what level sport a person has played at, concussion is certainly an issue,’ he said.
Professor Pearce added that there were benefits of physical activity and organised sport, ‘however, these shouldn’t automatically be used as a reason to assume concussions will not have long-term implications,’ he noted.
J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2024; 0: 1-9; doi:10.1136/ jnnp-2024-334039.