Long-term Brain Health of Retired Professional Rugby Players, With a History of Concussion/Head Impact Exposure

An Investigation Into the Long-term Brain Health of Retired Professional Rugby Players, With a History of Concussion/Head Impact Exposure

There has been significant recent interest on the issue of brain health in athletes. Participation in sports is generally viewed as extremely positive. Consistent evidence supports associations among exercise, cognitive vitality, neural functioning and decreased risk of cognitive decline. However, In the last decade, a dramatic shift in both public and scientific perception around the long-term consequences of concussion is evident. Rugby is a popular full-contact sport played throughout the world at varying levels of competition, including professional level. The game exposes players to inherent risk of injury including repetitive head impacts, due to the high number of collisions and tackles involved. Perhaps not surprisingly, given the physical nature of the sport, rugby has one of the highest rates of concussion of all full-contact sports. Evidence from a recent meta-anaysis found the incidence of concussion to be 4.73 per 1000 player match hours. Given the high incidence of concussion that has been reported in the literature to date, the issue of concussion and repeated head impact exposure is of particular concern in rugby.

Comprehensive investigation of cognition in living retired sports persons with previous exposure to repetitive head impact is noticeably lacking in the literature to date. Findings are inconsistent and investigations are shrouded by consistent methodological biases and flaws, reducing the overall quality of the studies. Relatively little research has been conducted on the long-term effects of repetitive mild TBI or sports concussion on the retired athlete's brain health with ageing. The potential long-term consequences are poorly understood and warrant more research. This study aims to investigate the brain health of retired rugby players in comparison to retired rowers who have achieved the same levels of exercise, without exposure to SRCs

Study Overview

• Status: Unknown
• Conditions: Brain Health Retired Elite Athletes
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Exploratory brain and general health assessment

Detailed Description

The primary aim of this study is to investigate brain health and wellness of retired professional Irish rugby players in comparison to retired professional Irish rowers.

Objectives:

The objectives will be to:

Obtain detailed demographic and overall health information from the retired rugby players and retired rowers.

Use a battery of cognitive function tests to assess the cognitive health of the retired rugby players and retired rowers.

Obtain blood samples from the retired rugby players and retired rowers in order to test for biomarkers indicative of neurodegenerative disease.

Investigate rugby player's self-report history of sports-related concussion (number and nature of concussions) during their career. Player's self-report will be correlated where possible with established individual player medical data.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Anticipated): 200

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: Male

• Sampling Method: Probability Sample

Study Population

Professional sport athletes with a career in elite rowing or rugby

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

- Male A retired professional rugby player (no age limit), who has played at least one season of professional rugby. A retired international rower (no age limit), who completed and trained full time for at least one season.

Athletes who have given informed consent and are willing to participate in the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

- You have a history of a non-sports related moderate to severe concussion or brain injury (eg a motor vehicle accident) You have had a concussion in the last year. You have had treatment of chemotherapy or radiotherapy in last 12 months. You have a bleeding disorder (will exclude you from blood sampling only).

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Observational Models: Case-Control
• Time Perspectives: Cross-Sectional

Number of groups / cohorts

2

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort	Intervention / Treatment
Retired professional rugby players; Rugby Players will Provide detailed demographic information Provide detailed overall health information Questionnaires Provide information on athlete's playing career; age of debut, career duration, number of seasons participated in. Provide information on concussion history. Be given a general health screen including- heart rate, blood pressure, body composition and height weight ratio. Perform a battery of neuropsychological tests (Sound-induced flash illusion and CANTAB, NART) Provide a sample of blood.	Other: Exploratory brain and general health assessment; Exploratory brain and general health assessment
Retired professional rowers; Rowers will Provide detailed demographic information Provide detailed overall health information Questionnaires Provide information on athlete's playing career; age of debut, career duration, number of seasons participated in. Provide information on concussion history. Be given a general health screen including- heart rate, blood pressure, body composition and height weight ratio. Perform a battery of neuropsychological tests (Sound-induced flash illusion and CANTAB, NART) Provide a sample of blood.	Other: Exploratory brain and general health assessment; Exploratory brain and general health assessment

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Brain Health Assessment	Investigating cognitive functioning	1 hour

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Concussion History Assessment	History of concussion/head impact exposure	20 minutes

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Dublin, Trinity College

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Anticipated): June 18, 2018
• Primary Completion (Anticipated): December 15, 2018
• Study Completion (Anticipated): December 15, 2018

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 21, 2018
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 21, 2018
• First Posted (Actual): June 1, 2018

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): June 1, 2018
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 21, 2018
• Last Verified: May 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: brain health, professional athlete, retired, neuropsychological assessment
• Other Study ID Numbers: JCunningham

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: No

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No