Alexander D G, Shuttleworth-Edwards A B, Kidd M, Malcolm C M
Psychiatry Department, Stellenbosch University , Stellenbosch, South Africa .
Brain Inj. 2015;29(9):1113-25. doi: 10.3109/02699052.2015.1031699. Epub 2015 May 25.
Information is scant concerning enduring brain injury effects of participation in the contact sport of Rugby Union (hereafter rugby) on early adolescents.
The objective was prospectively to investigate differences between young adolescent male rugby players and non-contact sports controls on neurocognitive test performance over 3 years and academic achievement over 6 years.
A sample of boys from the same school and grade was divided into three groups: rugby with seasonal concussions (n = 45), rugby no seasonal concussions (n = 21) and non-contact sports controls (n = 30). Baseline neurocognitive testing was conducted pre-season in Grade 7 and post-season in Grades 8 and 9. Year-end academic grades were documented for Grades 6-9 and 12 (pre-high school to year of school leaving). A mixed model repeated measures ANOVA was conducted to investigate comparative neurocognitive and academic outcomes between the three sub-groups.
Compared with controls, both rugby groups were significantly lower on the WISC-III Coding Immediate Recall sub-test. There was a significant interaction effect on the academic measure, with improved scores over time for controls, that was not in evidence for either rugby group.
Tentatively, the outcome suggests cognitive vulnerability in association with school level participation in rugby.
关于青少年早期参与英式橄榄球联盟（以下简称橄榄球）这项接触性运动对大脑造成的持续性损伤影响的信息很少。
前瞻性调查青少年男性橄榄球运动员与非接触性运动对照组在3年神经认知测试表现和6年学业成绩方面的差异。
从同一学校和年级选取样本，分为三组：有季节性脑震荡的橄榄球组（n = 45）、无季节性脑震荡的橄榄球组（n = 21）和非接触性运动对照组（n = 30）。在7年级季前进行基线神经认知测试，在8年级和9年级季后进行测试。记录6 - 9年级和12年级（从初中到毕业年份）的年终学业成绩。采用混合模型重复测量方差分析来研究三个亚组之间神经认知和学业成果的比较。
与对照组相比，两个橄榄球组在韦氏儿童智力量表第三版（WISC - III）编码即时回忆子测试中的得分显著更低。在学业指标上存在显著的交互作用，对照组的分数随时间提高，而两个橄榄球组均未出现这种情况。
初步来看，该结果表明在学校阶段参与橄榄球运动与认知易损性有关。
