Hypoconnectivity and hyperfrontality in retired American football players.
نویسندگان
چکیده
Recent research has raised concerns about the long-term neurological consequences of repetitive concussive and sub-concussive injuries in professional players of American Football. Despite this interest, the neural and psychological status of retired players remains unknown. Here, we evaluated the performances and brain activation patterns of retired National Football League players (NFL alumni) relative to controls using an fMRI-optimised neuropsychological test of executive function. Behaviourally, the NFL alumni showed only modest performance deficits on the executive task. By contrast, they showed pronounced hyperactivation and hypoconnectivity of the dorsolateral frontal and frontopolar cortices. Critically, abnormal frontal-lobe function was correlated with the number of times that NFL alumni reported having been removed from play after head injury and was evident in individual players. These results support the hypothesis that NFL alumni have a heightened probability of developing executive dysfunction and suggest that fMRI provides the most sensitive biomarker of the underlying neural abnormality.
منابع مشابه
Self-reported anabolic-androgenic steroids use and musculoskeletal injuries: findings from the center for the study of retired athletes health survey of retired NFL players.
OBJECTIVE The relationship between musculoskeletal injuries and anabolic-androgenic steroids is not well understood. The purpose of our study was to investigate the association between self-reported anabolic-androgenic steroids use and the prevalence of musculoskeletal injuries in a unique group of retired professional football players. DESIGN A general health questionnaire was completed by 2...
متن کاملAssociation between recurrent concussion and late-life cognitive impairment in retired professional football players.
OBJECTIVE Cerebral concussion is common in collision sports such as football, yet the chronic neurological effects of recurrent concussion are not well understood. The purpose of our study was to investigate the association between previous head injury and the likelihood of developing mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease in a unique group of retired professional football play...
متن کاملBetter News!
O ver the past decade, the sports medicine community has dealt with a very worrisome knowledge gap: that between those who suffer concussions playing football and the postmortem findings of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in former National Football League (NFL) players. At one end of the spectrum, we know that football players sustain regular head trauma, and as a medical community, we ...
متن کاملWhole-Person Impairment in Younger Retired NFL Players
BACKGROUND Professional American football is a physically demanding, high-impact sport with an elevated risk of injury. Orthopaedic injuries may impose acute, short-term or cumulative consequences throughout a player's lifetime. Several studies have addressed health and psychosocial concerns of an older, retired population of players in the National Football League (NFL); however, minimal resea...
متن کاملEarly-onset arthritis in retired National Football League players.
BACKGROUND Injury has been identified as a potential risk factor for osteoarthritis. However, no previous study has addressed playing-career injuries and subsequent osteoarthritis in a large sample of former athletes. The purpose of this study was to describe the prevalence and determinants of arthritis and osteoarthritis in retired professional football players. METHODS Self-reported arthrit...
متن کاملذخیره در منابع من
با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید
عنوان ژورنال:
- Scientific reports
دوره 3 شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2013