Title | Neuropsychological test performance of former American football players. |
Publication Type | Journal Article |
Year of Publication | 2023 |
Authors | Alosco, ML, Barr, WB, Banks, SJ, Wethe, JV, Miller, JB, Pulukuri, SVamsi, Culhane, J, Tripodis, Y, Adler, CH, Balcer, LJ, Bernick, C, Mariani, ML, Cantu, RC, Dodick, DW, McClean, MD, Au, R, Mez, J, Turner, RW, Palmisano, JN, Martin, B, Hartlage, K, Cummings, JL, Reiman, EM, Shenton, ME, Stern, RA |
Corporate Authors | |
Journal | Alzheimers Res Ther |
Volume | 15 |
Issue | 1 |
Pagination | 1 |
Date Published | 2023 Jan 03 |
ISSN | 1758-9193 |
Keywords | Brain Concussion, Cognitive Dysfunction, Football, Humans, Male, Memory, Short-Term, Neuropsychological Tests |
Abstract | BACKGROUND: Patterns of cognitive impairment in former American football players are uncertain because objective neuropsychological data are lacking. This study characterized the neuropsychological test performance of former college and professional football players. METHODS: One hundred seventy male former football players (n=111 professional, n=59 college; 45-74 years) completed a neuropsychological test battery. Raw scores were converted to T-scores using age, sex, and education-adjusted normative data. A T-score ≤ 35 defined impairment. A domain was impaired if 2+ scores fell in the impaired range except for the language and visuospatial domains due to the limited number of tests. RESULTS: Most football players had subjective cognitive concerns. On testing, rates of impairments were greatest for memory (21.2% two tests impaired), especially for recall of unstructured (44.7%) versus structured verbal stimuli (18.8%); 51.8% had one test impaired. 7.1% evidenced impaired executive functions; however, 20.6% had impaired Trail Making Test B. 12.1% evidenced impairments in the attention, visual scanning, and psychomotor speed domain with frequent impairments on Trail Making Test A (18.8%). Other common impairments were on measures of language (i.e., Multilingual Naming Test [21.2%], Animal Fluency [17.1%]) and working memory (Number Span Backward [14.7%]). Impairments on our tasks of visuospatial functions were infrequent. CONCLUSIONS: In this sample of former football players (most of whom had subjective cognitive concerns), there were diffuse impairments on neuropsychological testing with verbal memory being the most frequently impaired domain. |
DOI | 10.1186/s13195-022-01147-9 |
Alternate Journal | Alzheimers Res Ther |
PubMed ID | 36597138 |
PubMed Central ID | PMC9808953 |
Grant List | UL1 TR001430 / TR / NCATS NIH HHS / United States P30 AG066512 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States P30 AG072980 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States K23 NS102399 / NS / NINDS NIH HHS / United States R01 NS100952 / NS / NINDS NIH HHS / United States U01 NS093334 / NS / NINDS NIH HHS / United States P30 AG019610 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States R01 NS078337 / NS / NINDS NIH HHS / United States K01 AG054762 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States |