Citation

Colvin AC, Mullen J, Lovell MR, West RV, Collins MW, Groh M. Am. J. Sports Med. 2009; 37(9): 1699-1704.

Affiliation

Department of Orthopaedics, Mount Sinai Medical Center, 5 East 98th St, Box 1188, New York, NY 10029, USA. alexis.colvin@mountsinai.org

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0363546509332497

PMID

19460813

Abstract

BACKGROUND: This study was designed to investigate differences in recovery in male and female soccer athletes. HYPOTHESES: Soccer players with a history of concussion will perform worse on neurocognitive testing than players without a history of concussion. Furthermore, female athletes will demonstrate poorer performance on neurocognitive testing than male athletes. STUDY DESIGN: Cohort study (prognosis): Level of evidence, 2.

METHODS: Computer-based neuropsychological testing using reaction time, memory, and visual motor-speed composite scores of the ImPACT test battery was performed postconcussion in soccer players ranging in age from 8 to 24 years (N = 234; 141 females, 93 males). A multivariate analysis of variance was conducted to examine group differences in neurocognitive performance between male and female athletes with and without a history of concussion.

RESULTS: Soccer players with a history of at least 1 previous concussion performed significantly worse on ImPACT than those who had not sustained a prior concussion (F = 2.92, P =.03). In addition, female soccer players performed worse on neurocognitive testing (F = 2.72, P =.05) and also reported more symptoms (F = 20.1, P =.00001) than male soccer players. There was no significant difference in body mass index between male and female players (F =.04, P =.85).

CONCLUSION: A history of concussion and gender may account for significant differences in postconcussive neurocognitive test scores in soccer players and may play a role in determining recovery. These differences do not appear to reflect differences in mass between genders and may be related to other gender-specific factors that deserve further study.

Language: en