Does baseline concussion testing aid in identifying future concussion risk?

ABSTRACT

The purpose was to determine differences in pre-season baseline performance between student-athletes who suffered a future sport-related concussion (fSRC) and those who did not. Collegiate student-athletes (82 fSRC, 82 matched control, age = 18.4 ± 0.8years, height = 172.7 ± 10.3 cm, mass = 80.1 ± 20.9 kg) completed baseline Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT), Balance Error Scoring System (BESS), and Standardized Assessment of Concussion (SAC). Results of the independent t-tests suggested there were no differences between the fSRC and the control groups for ImPACT composite scores (95% confidence intervals, Visual Memory: fSRC 70.4–75.9, Control 73.4–78.5, p = 0.134; Verbal Memory: fSRC 83.8–87.7, Control 85.7–89.9, p = 0.155; Reaction Time: fSRC 0.562–0.591, Control 0.580–0.614, p = 0.071; Visual Motor Speed: fSRC 38.5–41.1, Control 38.2–40.9, p = 0.757), BESS total errors (fSRC 11.3–13.7, Control 11.8–14.4, p = 0.483), or SAC (fSRC 26.6–27.4, Control 26.9–27.6, p = 0.394). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) areas-under-the-curve were 0.417–0.515. Our findings suggest that baseline concussion assessments cannot be used to predict individuals who may sustain a fSRC.

KEYWORDS:

• Prevention
• mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI)
• ImPACT
• neuromuscular control

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the NIH/NINDS (R15) under Grant 1R15NS070744–01A1.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke [1R15NS070744–01A1].