Effects of a History of Concussions on Cognitive Function in Collegiate Wrestlers

A history of concussions has shown to affect neurocognitive degeneration, but it has not been investigated whether or not these aspects affect baseline cognitive scores. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects a history of concussions has on neurocognitive function in collegiate wrestlers. Athletes (n = 28) were administered a neurocognitive computer test at the beginning of the wrestling season. We collected baseline cognitive scores, concussion history, and any post injury scores that occurred during the season. Results suggest that a history of three or more concussions had deleterious effects on neurocognitive function. Notched boxplots depicted variability among the baseline scores showing non-gaussain distributions. Spearhmens Rho (-1 to +1) showed almost no relationship (rs = -.07) between verbal and visual memory composite scores. A moderate positive relationship (rs = .38) between visual memory control and visual motor speed and a weak positive relationship (rs = .12) between verbal memory composite and visual motor speed. Reaction time and visual memory control had a moderate negative relationship (rs = -.42). We conclude that a history of concussions may cause deletrious effects cognitive function and using non-parametric statistics should be considered for future research in analyzing concussions.