Objective:

To determine the association between repetitive subconcussive head impacts and neurobehavioral outcomes in youth tackle football players.

Methods:

Using helmet-based sensors, we measured head impacts for 3 consecutive seasons of play in 29 male players age 9-11. Cumulative impact g’s were calculated. Players completed a battery of outcome measures before and after each season, including neuropsychological testing, vestibular-ocular sensitivity, and self- and parent-reported measures of symptoms and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Results:

Average cumulative impact over 3 seasons was 13 900g. High-intensity hits predicted worse change for self-reported social adjustment (P = .001). Cumulative impact did not predict change in any of the outcome measures. History of ADHD, anxiety, and depression predicted worse change for self-reported symptoms and social adjustment, independent of head impacts. When players were stratified into 3 groups based on cumulative impact across all 3 seasons, differences in outcome measures existed prior to the start of the first season. These differences did not further increase over the course of the 3 seasons.

Conclusion:

Over 3 consecutive seasons of youth tackle football, we found no association between cumulative head impacts and neurobehavioral outcomes. Larger sample sizes and longer follow-up times would further assist in characterizing this relationship.

中文翻译：

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青少年足球 3 个赛季的亚脑震荡头部影响和神经认知功能

客观的：

确定重复性次脑震荡头部撞击与青少年铲球足球运动员神经行为结果之间的关联。

方法：

使用基于头盔的传感器，我们测量了 29 名 9-11 岁男性球员连续 3 个赛季的头部撞击情况。计算了累积影响g。球员在每个赛季之前和之后都完成了一系列结果测量，包括神经心理学测试、前庭眼敏感性以及自我和父母报告的症状和注意力缺陷多动障碍 (ADHD) 测量。

结果：

3 个季节的平均累积影响为 13 900克。高强度打击预示着自我报告的社会调整会发生更糟糕的变化（P = .001）。累积影响并未预测任何结果测量的变化。ADHD、焦虑和抑郁的病史预示着自我报告的症状和社会适应的变化会更严重，与头部影响无关。当根据所有 3 个赛季的累积影响将球员分为 3 组时，在第一个赛季开始之前，结果测量值存在差异。在 3 个赛季的过程中，这些差异并没有进一步增加。

结论：

在连续 3 个赛季的青少年足球比赛中，我们发现累积的头部撞击与神经行为结果之间没有关联。更大的样本量和更长的随访时间将进一步有助于描述这种关系。