Impact Of Concussion History On Brain Activity During Cognitive Function Testing

Abstract

METHODS:A prospective study of college-aged students examined within 5 days of a diagnosed concussion was performed in a university laboratory setting. Participants completed demographics, injury/recovery information, symptoms from the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool-5 (SCAT5), and the Athletic Identity Measurement Scale (AIMS) at initial and full medical clearance visits. Bivariate correlations were used to assess associations between the variables with a p value set at 0.05. RESULTS: Twenty-three participants (11 female; age = 20.64, SD = 1.9) were included in the analysis, with an average total score on the AIMS as 33.91 (SD = 9.9). The severity of symptoms at the initial visit was 14.70 (SD = 14.6) and 1.61 (SD = 2.4) for the clearance visit. The average number of days between concussion and clearance to return to play was 13.50 (SD = 9.2) days. The correlational results revealed no significant relationships as total score for athletic identity was not related to days to recovery (r = -0.59, n = 18, p =.816); symptom severity score at initial visit (r = .095, n = 23, p =.668); nor symptom severity score at clearance visit (r = .115, n = 18, p =.649). These results are a preliminary analysis and continued data collection is expected. CONCLUSION: Although athletes tend to highly identify with their athletic role which may negatively impact their response following injury, findings suggest that athletic identity is not related to a longer recovery following a concussion. Therefore, this normal-range psychological factor might not be a concern for practitioners. Continued data collection might indicate stronger relationships between these variables with a larger sample size.