Cognition in the days following concussion: comparison of symptomatic versus asymptomatic athletes
- 1 February 2006
- journal article
- research article
- Published by BMJ in Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry
- Vol. 77 (2), 241-245
- https://doi.org/10.1136/jnnp.2005.073155
Abstract
Background: Concussion is a common neurological injury occurring during contact sport. Current guidelines recommend that no athlete should return to play while symptomatic or displaying cognitive dysfunction. This study compared post-concussion cognitive function in recently concussed athletes who were symptomatic/asymptomatic at the time of assessment with that of non-injured (control) athletes. Methods: Prospective study of 615 male Australian Rules footballers. Before the season, all participants (while healthy) completed a battery of baseline computerised (CogSport) and paper and pencil cognitive tasks. Sixty one injured athletes (symptomatic = 25 and asymptomatic = 36) were reassessed within 11 days of being concussed; 84 controls were also reassessed. The serial cognitive function of the three groups was compared using analysis of variance. Results: The performance of the symptomatic group declined at the post-concussion assessment on computerised tests of simple, choice, and complex reaction times compared with the asymptomatic and control groups. The magnitude of changes was large according to conventional statistical criteria. On paper and pencil tests, the symptomatic group displayed no change at reassessment, whereas large improvements were seen in the other two groups. Conclusion: Injured athletes experiencing symptoms of concussion displayed impaired motor function and attention, although their learning and memory were preserved. These athletes displayed no change in performance on paper and pencil tests in contrast with the improvement observed in asymptomatic and non-injured athletes. Athletes experiencing symptoms of concussion should be withheld from training and competition until both symptoms and cognitive dysfunction have resolved.Keywords
This publication has 33 references indexed in Scilit:
- Development of a statistical approach to classifying treatment response in individual children with ADHDHuman Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental, 2004
- Duration of Cognitive Impairment After Sports ConcussionNeurosurgery, 2004
- Psychometric issues associated with computerised neuropsychological assessment of concussed athletesBritish Journal of Sports Medicine, 2003
- The effects of practice on the cognitive test performance of neurologically normal individuals assessed at brief test–retest intervalsJournal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 2003
- Computerised neuropsychological testingBritish Journal of Sports Medicine, 2003
- Summary and agreement statement of the first International Conference on Concussion in Sport, Vienna 2001British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2002
- Computerised cognitive assessment of concussed Australian Rules footballersBritish Journal of Sports Medicine, 2001
- Computerised cognitive assessment of athletes with sports related head injuryBritish Journal of Sports Medicine, 2001
- Neuropsychological Functioning and Recovery after Mild Head Injury in Collegiate AthletesNeurosurgery, 1996
- Reaction time after head injury: fatigue, divided and focused attention, and consistency of performance.Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, 1989