A - 10 Neuropsychological Performance, Cognitive Concerns, and Mood Symptoms in Former Female Collegiate Athletes With Concussion History

Little is known about long-term cognitive and emotional changes after lifetime history of head-injury, specifically in collegiate female athletes who sustained concussions during their career. We explored whether athletes report subjective cognitive concerns, mood symptoms, and/or show cognitive difficulties ~30+ years post-playing career.

Forty-six female former college athletes aged 50 to 76 (M = 60.6, SD = 5.9) completed the College Level Aging Athlete Study (CLEAATS). Participants completed the GAD-7, PHQ-8, Cognitive Functioning Instrument (CFI), Neuro-QOL Emotional and Behavioral Dyscontrol (EBD) scale, a head-injury questionnaire, and a comprehensive teleneuropsychological assessment battery assessing episodic memory, processing speed, executive functioning, language, and verbal fluency. Participants were grouped by concussion history: 0 (n = 23), 1 (n = 10), or 2+ (n = 13) injuries. MANCOVAs controlling for premorbid IQ via the American National Adult Reading Test compared groups for mood symptom endorsement and neuropsychological test performance.

No significant differences in neuropsychological measures or GAD-7 scores were found across concussion groups. Slightly higher CFI scores were reported in the 2+ concussion group (M = 2.3, SD = 2.1) versus none (M = 1.4, SD = 1.3, p = 0.028, η² = 0.157.). Higher PHQ-8 scores were observed in the 2+ concussion group (M = 5.0, SD = 6.4) versus none (M = 1.57, SD = 1.9, p = 0.027, η² = 0.155). Differences in NeuroQOL EBD scores in the 2+ concussion group (M = 28.3, SD = 8.8) versus none (M = 22.5, SD = 4.9) trended toward significance (p = 0.052, η² = 0.128).

Multiple concussions were associated with greater subjective cognitive concerns and depressive symptoms. No differences in objective cognitive functioning were found, building on prior work highlighting differences between subjective cognitive concerns and objective performance and extending this to include female former athletes with concussion history.