Study reveals altered brain structure and slower reaction times in college football players

Research has shown that head impacts common to college football athletes are associated with short-term effects, but a new study offers evidence of permanent alterations in brain structure and slower reaction times.

Up to now, permanent cognitive effects of football-related concussions have been reported only in late-career and retired players. A new study published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association provides startling evidence that permanent alterations may exist in deep areas of the brains of much younger collegiate athletes.

“Boys hear about the long-term effect on guys when they’re retired from football, but this shows that 20-year-olds might be having some kind of effect,” said Patrick Bellgowan, senior author of the report, Laureate Institute for Brain Research in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Compared with players who played fewer years or not at all, players who played many years or had been diagnosed with concussion from impact while playing exhibited smaller hippocampal volumes as measured by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Players exhibited 17 percent to 26 percent smaller hippocampal volumes, and players with history of concussion had hippocampal volumes even smaller. The hippocampus of the brain is a deep structure that is integral for learning and memory.

The study involved 25 collegiate football players with concussion history, 25 players without concussion history, and 25 men of similar age that had never played football. In addition to MRI measurements, subjects were also administered a computerized test to assess their cognitive abilities. The researchers observed that reaction times were slowest in the concussion history group and fastest in the men who never played football.

The implications of the findings relate mainly to long-term outcomes for players experiencing repeated head impacts. A smaller hippocampus is associated with depression, schizophrenia, and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Although the study authors did not detect behavioral alterations in their study subjects, warn that conditions like CTE may not become symptomatic for years.

Whether or not a smaller hippocampus will cause problems for the athletes down the road is unknown and will be the topic of future research. For now, the authors suggest a conservative approach in which coaches and parents seek the advice of specialists when their student athletes experience play-related headaches.