Baseline profiles of auditory, vestibular, and visual functions in youth tackle football players

Abstract

Aim: Neurosensory tests have emerged as components of sport-related concussion management. Limited normative data are available in healthy, nonconcussed youth athletes. Patients & methods/results: In 2017 and 2018, we tested 108 youth tackle football players immediately before their seasons on the frequency-following response, Balance Error Scoring System, and King-Devick test. We compared results with published data in older and/or and nonathlete populations. Performance on all tests improved with age. Frequency-following response and Balance Error Scoring System results aligned with socioeconomic status. Performance was not correlated across neurosensory domains. Conclusion: Baseline neurosensory functions in seven 14-year-old male tackle football players are consistent with previously published data. Results reinforce the need for individual baselines or demographic-specific norms and the use of multiple neurosensory measures in sport-related concussion management.

Evaluating the Association Between Sociodemographic and Health Variables With Baseline Concussion Testing in Young Athletes

“…29,30 Younger athletes and those with a lower SES also demonstrated slower K-D test times in the current study. White-Schwoch et al 48 found that K-D test times improved with increasing age among youth football players but did not observe an association with SES. In this study by White-Schwoch et al, SES was approximated by referencing a participant's zip code to US Census data of median income for that area and thus did not consider individual-level SES.…”

“…Several variables have been found to potentially affect baseline concussion testing, including sex, 5 , 8 - 12 , 39 , 42 , 43 age, 5 , 8 , 11 , 18 , 19 , 43 , 48 race, 18 , 44 , 46 and a history of learning disabilities 8 , 10 , 13 , 18 , 29 , 31 , 32 , 38 and mental health conditions. 10 , 11 , 32 , 45 , 47 Many of these previous studies were conducted in collegiate athlete populations, and thus less is known about the associations of demographic factors with baseline concussion testing in other populations, such as youth athletes.…”

“…In addition to certain demographic variables, previous studies have also found that socioeconomic status (SES) may influence baseline concussion testing in symptom reporting, 33 neurocognition, 18 , 33 , 44 balance, 48 and vestibular/oculomotor function. 44 , 46 These prior studies approximated SES using aggregate data such as median income by zip code, 48 binary variables such as free or reduced lunch eligibility 33 , 46 and Title I school status, 44 or measures that can be difficult to collect and are not scalable, such as the Hollingshead Four Factor Index of Social Status. 18 While these measures can be used to estimate SES, they may fail to capture more detailed individual differences within groups.…”

Auditory Evoked Potentials in Communication Disorders: An Overview of Past, Present, and Future

“…To fill this clinical gap, FFR elicited with a 40-ms /da/ stimulus at a relatively high repetition rate (e.g., 10.9/s), also known as BioMARK (Biological Marker for Auditory Processing), was developed. 27 BioMARK, and FFRs in general, have been found to be sensitive to a variety of disorders ranging from dyslexia, 28,29 autism, 30,31 auditory processing disorder (APD), [32][33][34][35] and concussion 36 and exhibit potential for use in the clinics.…”