Rodrigues Ana Carolina, Lima Mariana Drummond Martins, de Souza Leonardo Cruz, Furtado Celso, Marques Cimar Eustáquio, Gonçalves Lucas, Lima Marcus Vinícius, Lasmar Rodrigo Pace, Caramelli Paulo
Pró-Reitoria de Graduação, Reitoria da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Grupo de Pesquisa em Neurologia Cognitiva e do Comportamento, Departamento de Clínica Médica, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Front Neurol. 2019 Mar 12;10:209. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2019.00209. eCollection 2019.
Although the scientific community has focused on the effects of concussions in contact sports, the role of subconcussive impacts, as it can occur during soccer heading, has recently gained attention, considering that it may represent an additional mechanism of cumulative brain injury. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of soccer heading on cognitive functioning in active professional soccer players. Male soccer players ( = 44), from two soccer teams that play in the Brazilian A Series Championship, and non-athletes ( = 47), comparable in age and education, were submitted to cognitive assessment, consisting of computerized and conventional neuropsychological testing (Neupsilin battery). In the computerized cognitive assessment, soccer players performed better than controls on reaction time measures in general motor coordination, executive functioning and memory tests, and on accuracy measures in executive functioning tests. There were no significant differences between groups on the Neupsilin battery. A comparison between two sub-groups of soccer players, based on the self-reported number of headings, did not show significant differences on tests performance. No significant correlations were found between an estimate of exposure to heading during professional soccer career and cognitive performance. Our data demonstrate no evidence of cognitive impairment in soccer players, compared to non-athletes, and no association between heading exposure and performance on neuropsychological tests. Longitudinal investigations, including neuroimaging assessment, will help to clarify whether soccer heading may be associated with brain injury and cognitive dysfunction.
尽管科学界一直关注接触性运动中脑震荡的影响，但次脑震荡撞击的作用，比如在足球头球过程中可能发生的情况，近来受到了关注，因为它可能代表了累积性脑损伤的另一种机制。本研究的目的是调查足球头球对现役职业足球运动员认知功能的影响。来自两支参加巴西甲级联赛的足球队的男性足球运动员（n = 44）和年龄及教育程度相当的非运动员（n = 47）接受了认知评估，包括计算机化和传统神经心理学测试（Neupsilin测试组）。在计算机化认知评估中，足球运动员在一般运动协调、执行功能和记忆测试的反应时间测量方面以及执行功能测试的准确性测量方面表现优于对照组。在Neupsilin测试组中，两组之间没有显著差异。根据自我报告的头球次数对足球运动员的两个亚组进行比较，测试表现上没有显著差异。在职业足球生涯中头球暴露次数的估计与认知表现之间未发现显著相关性。我们的数据表明，与非运动员相比，没有证据显示足球运动员存在认知障碍，并且头球暴露与神经心理学测试表现之间没有关联。包括神经影像学评估在内的纵向研究将有助于阐明足球头球是否可能与脑损伤和认知功能障碍有关。
