Iverson Grant L, Caccese Jaclyn B, Merz Zachary C, Büttner Fionn, Terry Douglas P
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States.
Spaulding Research Institute, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Charlestown, MA, United States.
Front Neurol. 2021 May 5;12:647314. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2021.647314. eCollection 2021.
The purpose of this study was to determine if earlier age of first exposure to football is associated with worse brain health in middle-aged and older adult men who played high school football. Men from the United States, aged 35 and older, who reported playing high school football, completed a customized, online health survey via the Amazon Mechanical Turk (mTurk) platform. Survey items included physical, psychological, and cognitive symptoms over the past week and over the past year, sports participation history (including age of first exposure to football), medical history, and concussion history. Participants also completed the Patient Health Questionnaire-8 (PHQ-8) and the British Columbia Post-Concussion Symptom Inventory (BC-PSI). There were 186 men (age M = 51.78, SD = 10.93) who participated in high school football, and 87 (46.8%) reported football participation starting before the age of 12 and 99 (53.2%) reported football participation at or after the age of 12. Those who started playing football at an earlier age reported a greater number of lifetime concussions (M = 1.95, SD = 1.79) compared to those who started playing at age 12 or later (M = 1.28, SD = 1.52; U = 3,257.5, = 0.003). A similar proportion of men who played football before vs. after the age of 12 reported a lifetime history of being prescribed medications for depression, anxiety, chronic pain, headaches, or memory problems. When comparing men who played football before vs. after the age of 12, the groups did not differ significantly in their ratings of depression, anger, anxiety, headaches, migraines, neck or back pain, chronic pain, concentration problems, or memory problems over the past week or the past year. The two groups did not differ significantly in their ratings of current symptoms of depression (PHQ-8; U = 4,187.0, = 0.74) or post-concussion-like symptoms (BC-PSI; U = 3,944.0, = 0.53). Furthermore, there were no statistically significant correlations between the age of first exposure to football, as a continuous variable, and PHQ-8 or BC-PSI scores. This study adds to a rapidly growing body of literature suggesting that earlier age of first exposure to football is not associated with later-in-life brain health.
本研究的目的是确定首次接触橄榄球的年龄较早是否与曾参加过高中橄榄球运动的中老年男性较差的脑健康状况相关。年龄在35岁及以上、曾参加过高中橄榄球运动的美国男性，通过亚马逊土耳其机器人（mTurk）平台完成了一份定制的在线健康调查。调查项目包括过去一周和过去一年的身体、心理和认知症状、运动参与史（包括首次接触橄榄球的年龄）、病史和脑震荡史。参与者还完成了患者健康问卷-8（PHQ-8）和不列颠哥伦比亚脑震荡后症状量表（BC-PSI）。共有186名男性（年龄M = 51.78，标准差 = 10.93）参加过高中橄榄球运动，其中87人（46.8%）报告在12岁之前开始参加橄榄球运动，99人（53.2%）报告在12岁及之后开始参加橄榄球运动。与12岁及以后开始参加橄榄球运动的人相比（M = 1.28，标准差 = 1.52；U = 3,257.5，p = 0.003），那些较早开始参加橄榄球运动的人报告的终身脑震荡次数更多（M = 1.95，标准差 = 1.79）。12岁之前和之后参加橄榄球运动的男性中，报告有因抑郁、焦虑、慢性疼痛、头痛或记忆问题而被开处方药的终身病史的比例相似。在比较12岁之前和之后参加橄榄球运动的男性时，两组在过去一周或过去一年的抑郁、愤怒、焦虑、头痛、偏头痛、颈部或背部疼痛、慢性疼痛、注意力问题或记忆问题评分上没有显著差异。两组在抑郁的当前症状评分（PHQ-8；U = 4,187.0，p = 0.74）或脑震荡后样症状评分（BC-PSI；U = 3,944.0，p = 0.53）上也没有显著差异。此外，作为连续变量的首次接触橄榄球的年龄与PHQ-8或BC-PSI评分之间没有统计学上的显著相关性。这项研究为迅速增长的文献增添了内容，表明首次接触橄榄球的年龄较早与晚年的脑健康状况无关。
