TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2018//
TI  - Neurophysiological and cognitive impairment following repeated sports concussion injuries in retired professional rugby league players
JO  - Brain injury
A1  - Pearce, Alan J.
A1  - Rist, Billymo
A1  - Fraser, Clare L.
A1  - Cohen, Adrian
A1  - Maller, Jerome J.
SP  - 498
EP  - 505
VL  - 32
IS  - 4
N2  - BACKGROUND: Concussion is regarded as a common injury in rugby league, however no studies have explored the long-term neurophysiological and cognitive effects of repeated concussion injuries in this sport. <br><br>METHODS: Former professional rugby athletes (n = 25) were compared to 25 age-matched participants with no history of a concussion. All participants completed standardised motor dexterity, reaction time, and cognitive tasks for working memory, associative learning and rule acquisition and reversal. Single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) acquired motor evoked potentials and cortical silent period (cSP), as well as paired-pulse TMS for short latency intracortical inhibition and long intracortical inhibition (LICI). <br><br>RESULTS: Compared to controls, dexterity and visuomotor reaction time was slower in the rugby group compared to controls (p = 0.02, p < 0.01, respectively). The rugby group also demonstrated poorer cognitive performance than controls (p range 0.02 to < 0.01). TMS revealed significantly reduced cSP at suprathreshold stimulation intensities (p range 0.02 to <0.01), and increased LICI (p = 0.03) in the rugby group. <br><br>DISCUSSION: These findings of motor and cognitive changes, along with neurophysiological alterations, particularly with intracortical inhibition, nearly two decades post-concussion provides evidence for long-term sequelae for athletes with a history of repeated head trauma in contact sports.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0269-9052
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02699052.2018.1430376
ID  - ref1
ER  -