Mild traumatic brain injuries in early adolescent rugby players: Long-term neurocognitive and academic outcomes

Background: Information is scant concerning enduring brain injury effects of participation in the contact sport of Rugby Union (hereafter rugby) on early adolescents. Objective: 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. Method: 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. Results: 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. Conclusions: Tentatively, the outcome suggests cognitive vulnerability in association with school level participation in rugby.