TY - JOUR
T1 - Functional Connectivity Changes in Retired Rugby League Players
T2 - A Data-Driven Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study
AU - Guell, Xavier
AU - Arnold Anteraper, Sheeba
AU - Gardner, Andrew J.
AU - Whitfield-Gabrieli, Susan
AU - Kay-Lambkin, Frances
AU - Iverson, Grant L.
AU - Gabrieli, John
AU - Stanwell, Peter
N1 - Funding Information:
Peter Stanwell has received funding from the NSW Sporting Injuries Committee, the Brain Foundation (Australia), and Australian-American Fulbright Commission. For the other authors, no competing financial interests exist.
Funding Information:
Grant Iverson has been reimbursed by the government, professional scientific bodies, and commercial organizations for discussing or presenting research relating to mild TBI and sport-related concussion at meetings, scientific conferences, and symposiums. He has a clinical and consulting practice in forensic neuropsychology involving individuals who have sustained mild TBIs (including athletes). He serves as a scientific advisor for BioDirection, Inc., Sway Operations, LLC, and Highmark, Inc. He has received research funding from several test publishing companies, including ImPACT Applications, Inc., CNS Vital Signs, and Psychological Assessment Resources (PAR, Inc.). He has received research funding as a principal investigator from the National Football League, and salary support as a collaborator from the Harvard Integrated Program to Protect and Improve the Health of National Football League Players Association Members. He acknowledges unrestricted philanthropic support from ImPACT Applications, Inc., the Heinz Family Foundation, and the Mooney-Reed Charitable Foundation.
Funding Information:
Dr. Guell was supported by the MGH Tosteson & Fund for Medical Discovery Fellowship, and the ‘‘La Caixa’’ Foundation Fellowship. Dr. Gardner is currently funded through an NHMRC Early Career Fellowship, and Hunter New England Local Health District, Research, Innovation and Partnerships Health Research & Translation Centre and Clinical Research Fellowship Scheme, and the University of Newcastle’s Priority Research Centre for Stroke and Brain Injury. Dr. Iverson is funded in part through a grant from the National Football League. He also acknowledges unrestricted philanthropic support from the Mooney-Reed Charitable Foundation, ImPACT Applications, Inc., Heinz Family Foundation, and the Spaulding Research Institute. Dr. Stanwell was funded by the NSW Sporting Injuries Committee, the Brain Foundation (Australia), and the Australian-American Fulbright Commission. The other authors received no funding.
Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright 2020, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers 2020.
PY - 2020/8/15
Y1 - 2020/8/15
N2 - There is considerable interest in the long-term brain health of retired contact and collision sport athletes; however, little is known about possible underlying changes in functional brain connectivity in this group. We evaluated whole-brain functional connectivity patterns using multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA) to determine whether alterations in functional connectivity distinguish retired professional athletes from a matched group of healthy community control subjects. Thirty-two retired athletes with a history of multiple self-reported sport-related concussions and 36 healthy community control subjects who were similar in age and education, completed functional magnetic resonance imaging. We identified brain regions with abnormal functional connectivity patterns using whole-brain MVPA as implemented in the Conn toolbox. First-level MVPA was performed using 64 principal component analysis (PCA) components. Second-level F test was performed using the first three MVPA components for retired athletes > controls group contrast. Post hoc seed-to-voxel analyses using the MVPA cluster results as seeds were performed to characterize functional connectivity abnormalities from brain regions identified by MVPA. MVPA revealed one cluster of abnormal functional connectivity located in cerebellar lobule V. This region of lobule V corresponded to the ventral attention network. Post hoc seed-to-voxel analysis using the cerebellar MVPA cluster as a seed revealed multiple areas of cerebral cortical hyper-connectivity and hypo-connectivity in retired athletes when compared with controls. This initial report suggests that cerebellar dysfunction might be present and clinically important in some retired athletes.
AB - There is considerable interest in the long-term brain health of retired contact and collision sport athletes; however, little is known about possible underlying changes in functional brain connectivity in this group. We evaluated whole-brain functional connectivity patterns using multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA) to determine whether alterations in functional connectivity distinguish retired professional athletes from a matched group of healthy community control subjects. Thirty-two retired athletes with a history of multiple self-reported sport-related concussions and 36 healthy community control subjects who were similar in age and education, completed functional magnetic resonance imaging. We identified brain regions with abnormal functional connectivity patterns using whole-brain MVPA as implemented in the Conn toolbox. First-level MVPA was performed using 64 principal component analysis (PCA) components. Second-level F test was performed using the first three MVPA components for retired athletes > controls group contrast. Post hoc seed-to-voxel analyses using the MVPA cluster results as seeds were performed to characterize functional connectivity abnormalities from brain regions identified by MVPA. MVPA revealed one cluster of abnormal functional connectivity located in cerebellar lobule V. This region of lobule V corresponded to the ventral attention network. Post hoc seed-to-voxel analysis using the cerebellar MVPA cluster as a seed revealed multiple areas of cerebral cortical hyper-connectivity and hypo-connectivity in retired athletes when compared with controls. This initial report suggests that cerebellar dysfunction might be present and clinically important in some retired athletes.
KW - athlete
KW - fMRI
KW - functional connectivity
KW - head trauma
KW - MRI
KW - sports concussion
KW - traumatic brain injury
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U2 - 10.1089/neu.2019.6782
DO - 10.1089/neu.2019.6782
M3 - Article
C2 - 32183583
AN - SCOPUS:85089302058
SN - 0897-7151
VL - 37
SP - 1788
EP - 1796
JO - Journal of neurotrauma
JF - Journal of neurotrauma
IS - 16
ER -