Long-term cognitive symptoms for non-professional players could be attributed to factors other than sports-related concussions, says a study led by a medical researcher at UNSW. As a proof of the prospective protective effect of sports participation, the outcomes of the student-athletes with a reported SRC were nominally superior to those with no self-reported concussion overall or in some categories. A study in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry showed that the cognitively those who had had an SRC at some point in their lives had a slightly better score that those who claimed to have never had a concussion.
This study was carried out by UNSW Sydney, University of Oxford, University of Exeter, and Harvard University on the basis of data from 15,000 plus participants in the UK based PROTECT study involving men and women between 50 and 90 years of age. The purpose of this continuing study is to try to understand Alzheimer and Brain aging. These findings suggest that even if one sustains a concussion, getting involved in sports may very well be beneficial for long-term cognitive outcomes,” said lead author of the study, Dr. Matt Lennon, MD, Ph. D., an investigator of UNSW Medicine & Health’s Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA).
Of course, it could be argued that people involved in sports are usually more-wealthy and often receive a better education, but this is not an issue which could have affected the results of the present study because all these factors were included in the equation. It is hypothesized that the involvement of children and youths in sports results in healthier late life adults in terms of behavioral, social and physical adjustments.
This research is currently the largest study of the post-acute cognitive sequelae of SRC to date. Consequently, researchers employed the Brain Injury Screening Questionnaire to conduct concussion histories throughout the participants’ lifetime with 15,214 participants. In this sample 510 of the children (3.2%) and 6,227 of the adolescents (39.5%) confirmed they have at least one moderate-to-severe concussion. Participants reported that they sustain their first head injury 39 years before, latest head injury 29 years before participating the study.
This research suggests that there may be possible future benefits that can be playing sports despite the risks that are associated with the occurrence of concussions.: This result could go a long way in influencing the practices with regard to contact sports participation. Also, the researchers suggest that head injuries received in ordinary life may lead to more brain damage than athletic concussions,” says the senior author, Professor Vanessa Raymont from the University of Oxford and Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust.
As pointed out by the researchers, there are some limitations that defined the study. “We selected a retrospective design of the study, and the patients who were interviewed were elderly; thus, they were likely to produce details concerning head injuries that occurred over three decades ago although we included a well-validated screening tool for head injury,” said Prof. Raymont.
As disaggregation by the kind of sport concussion unravels different status of brain health outcomes of those who incurred the injury through sport as opposed to those who did not, said Anne Corbett, professor at the Exeter University and the head of PROTECT research project.
Concussion resulting from sports does not problematize the brain, but other kinds of injury do, especially if one gets several concussions. In fact, the study shows that athletes, in general, may enjoy better brain health even in the absence of concussion while playing a game.
Reference
Sports Related Concussion not associated with long term cognitive or behavioral deficits: The PROTECT-TBI Study, Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry (2024).
