Concussion Found To Affect Future Memory In NFL Players

New findings published in JAMA Neurology examined the relationship between memory performance with hippocampal volume and concussion history, which have lead some retired NFL players to impaired memory issues later in life.

For the study, researchers looked at 28 former athletes, eight of whom had been diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Researchers also looked at 21 cognitively healthy control group participants with no history of concussion and six control participants with MCI but no concussion history.

For athletes with a history of concussions without MCI, though they had normal verbal memory scores, they were lower than subjects who had never suffered a concussion. However, scores were worse for participants who suffered from both a concussion and MCI when compared to the aforementioned group and the health controls.

Former athletes without a concussion and loss of consciousness showed similar hippocampal volumes compared with control participants across age ranges. However, older retired athletes with at least one concussion with loss of consciousness had smaller hippocampal volumes compared with control subjects and a smaller right hippocampal volume compared with athletes without a G3 concussion. The left hippocampal volume in retired athletes with MCI and concussion also was smaller compared with control participants with MCI.

"Our findings suggest that a remote history of concussion with loss of consciousness is associated with both later-in-life decreases in hippocampal volume and memory performance in retired NFL players. ... Our findings further show that a history of G3 concussion in athletes with MCI was associated with greater hippocampal volume loss compared with control participants with MCI. Prospective longitudinal studies after a G3 concussion would add further insight to the mechanism of MCI development in these populations," the study concluded.