Citation

Ganesh A, Galetta S. Neurology 2019; 93(12): 564.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1212/WNL.0000000000008143

PMID

31527104

Abstract

In the article “Concussion Biomarkers Assessed in Collegiate Student-Athletes (BASICS) I: Normative study”, Asken et al. measured various concussion-related serum biomarkers in 415 nonconcussed collegiate athletes without recent exposure to head impacts and found that they expressed these markers in variable concentrations, depending on demographic factors such as sex and race, with poor test-retest reliability. In response, Dr. Satyarthee reviews some characteristics for an ideal serum biomarker for concussion and notes that the study did not evaluate the relationship of the tested biomarkers with a variety of other comorbid conditions. Replying to these comments, the authors agree that a broad limitation of current brain injury biomarker research is the uncertain influence of comorbid host factors that may affect biomarker concentrations. However, they note that many of the factors mentioned by Dr. Satyarthee such as malnutrition are rare in university athletes. They note that recognizing differences in demographics and comorbidities is important when seeking to translate brain injury biomarker research across different populations, such as sports-related injury in youth vs traumatic brain injury in middle age...

Language: en