Post-concussion symptoms in relation to sports-related concussions and neurocognitive performance

Abstract

The objective of the study was twofold. First, to examine the relationship between self-reported concussion history and post-concussion symptoms (PCS) among male athletes. Second, to examine PCS in relation to neurocognitive performance. Participants were 98 active and retired Icelandic male athletes, age 18-45 years (M = 28.14, SD = 6.66), who had sustained a concussion and had retired from or were currently training or competing at the highest level in various contact sports. Participants answered an online questionnaire that asked about age, sports participation, demographic variables, and concussion history. Participants who had sustained a concussion were invited for an interview and neuropsychological testing. Athletes who had sustained three or more concussions experienced more PCS than athletes who had sustained one or two concussions. However, no significant correlation was observed between the number of concussions and PCS. PCS were associated with worse neurocognitive performance on DSST, Matrix Reasoning, TMT-A, the first, second, and third trial of the Stroop Color-Word Task and SART. No significant correlation was revealed between PCS and Digit Span, Letter-Number Sequencing, TMT-B, and the fourth trial of the Stroop-Color Word Task. In conclusion, there are indications that three concussions might work as a threshold for developing long-standing PCS. Moreover, an indication of a negative association between certain cognitive functions and PCS was revealed. It is possible that PCS may have been a confounding factor in previous research on cognitive function and sports-related concussions (SRCs).Keywords: sports-related concussions, post-concussion symptoms, neurocognitive performance, contact-sports