The effect of subconcussive head impacts on cognitive ability, mental health, and educational performance in elite youth athletes

背景：在身体接触运动中对头部的持续打击可导致次震荡冲击。虽然次震荡不会引起急性脑震荡症状，但它们确实会导致大脑的微观结构和功能改变，并与神经认知障碍有关。现在认为，累积的头部次震荡冲击会导致神经退行性疾病慢性创伤性脑病（CTE），导致脑萎缩、情绪和认知能力的改变。该项目将利用加速度计、脑电图和认知测试的新组合，确定认知技能如何受到次脑震荡的影响，从而为与运动相关的头部撞击的教育管理提供信息和指导。众所周知，脑震荡症状会对学术学习产生不利影响，进而对心理健康产生负面影响。造成这些不良反应的一个可能原因是认知功能受损。教育环境往往是嘈杂和分散注意力的，大脑需要能够应对这种环境，以支持学业成就。目前尚不清楚次震荡影响对日常认知功能的影响程度，例如在嘈杂环境中理解和记忆信息的能力。目前还不清楚脑震荡是否与心理健康的变化有关。尽管相对于脑震荡，累积的头部次震荡撞击的发生率要高得多。

Background: Blows to the head sustained during contact sport can lead to subconcussive impacts1. Whilst subconcussive impacts do not cause acute concussion symptoms, they do lead to microstructural and functional changes to the brain and are linked to neurocognitive impairment2. It is now thought that cumulative subconcussive head impacts cause the neurodegenerative disease Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), which leads to brain atrophy and changes in mood and cognitive ability3. This project will inform and guide educational management of sport-related subconcussive head impacts by determining how cognitive skills are affected by subconcussion, using a novel combination of accelerometry, electroencephalography, and cognitive tests.Concussion symptoms are known to have adverse effects on academic learning4, which in turn can negatively impact mental health5. One possible reason for these adverse effects is due to impairment in cognitive functioning6. Educational environments are often noisy and distracting, and the brain needs to be able to cope with this environment to support academic achievement. The extent to which subconcussive impacts have functional consequences for everyday cognitive functioning, such as the ability to understand and remember information in noisy environments, is currently unknown. It is also unclear whether subconcussions are linked to changes in mental health. And this is despite the far higher prevalence of cumulative subconcussive head impacts relative to concussions.