A-47 Resting-State Functional Connectivity Associated with Contact Level in Female Varsity Athletes

Abstract

Objective The effects of participation in contact sports on brain functioning is a growing area of concern in the athlete population. This pilot study examined differences in resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) associated with level of contact in female varsity student athletes. Method Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans were collected from 29 female university athletes. Level of contact was characterized by active participation in collision sports (n = 13) and contact sports (n = 16). Athletes completed baseline testing including self-reported psychological measures. RsFC was compared between groups using Independent Component Analysis (ICA) within the default mode (DMN), frontoparietal (FPN), dorsal attention (DAN), salience (SN), and sensorimotor (SMN) networks. Results Collision sport athletes reported younger age at first sport (M = 4.7, SD = 1.2) and fewer past concussions (Md = 0, Range = 0–3) compared to contact sport athletes (M = 7.5, SD = 3.4; Md = 7.5, Range = 0–6; ps < .05). Collision sport athletes also reported fewer symptoms of depression on the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (p = 0.03). Collision sport athletes had decreased rsFC between the SMN and the left inferior frontal gyrus (T = −5.6, pFDR = 0.008) compared to the contact sport athletes. This difference in rsFC was not associated with age at first sport or prior concussion history. Conclusions Consistent with prior studies of varsity athletes, altered patterns of rsFC were observed in areas supporting somatomotor function in female athletes with suspected greater contact exposure. Further research is necessary to examine whether these neural changes are attributable to greater exposure to sub-concussive hits or other factors, such as differences in visuomotor abilities.