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Long-Term Cognitive Benefits of Sports Outweigh Concussion Risks

By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on Sep 6, 2024.

via HealthDay

FRIDAY, Sept. 6, 2024 -- Sports concussions in older nonprofessional athletes are not linked to any negative long-term cognitive effects, according to a study published online Sept. 4 in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.

Matthew Joseph Lennon, Ph.D., from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, and colleagues assessed the cognitive effects of sports-related concussion (SRC) in nonathletes. The analysis included 15,214 U.K. community-dwelling adults (aged 50 to 90 years) followed annually for four years.

The researchers found that at baseline, the SRC group had significantly better working memory (B = 0.113) and verbal reasoning (B = 0.199) versus those without concussion. Additionally, those who had suffered one SRC at baseline had significantly better verbal reasoning (B = 0.111) and attention (B = 0.115) versus those with no SRC at baseline. However, participants with three or more non-SRCs had significantly worse processing speed (B = −0.082) and attention (B = −0.156), as well as a significantly worse trajectory of verbal reasoning with increasing age (B = −0.088).

"While these results do not indicate the safety of any sport in particular, they do indicate that overall sports may have greater beneficial effects for long-term cognitive health than the damage it causes, even in those who have experienced concussion," Lennon said in a statement.

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Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

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