Meeting Banner
Abstract #1426

High school football athletes with a history of concussion have relatively vulnerable and faster aging resting state brain network than those without

Kausar Abbas 1 , Trey E Shenk 1 , and Thmoas M Talavage 1,2

1 Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, United States, 2 Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, United States

The aim of this study is to characterize the differential long-term effects of sub-concussive brain injury on high school football athletes with and without a history of concussion (HoC and NoHoC). For this purpose, group differences in various graph-theoretical network measures were computed to characterize their networks segregation, integration and resilience properties. HoC athletes exhibited significantly lower segregation than NoHoC athletes. Reduced segregation is expected with aging over healthy adult life span, thus suggesting a relatively faster aging brain for HoC athletes. HoC athletes also exhibited lower assortativity values suggesting relatively more vulnerable highly-connected brain regions.

This abstract and the presentation materials are available to members only; a login is required.

Join Here