The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of sport participation, concussion history, and age of first exposure to football on preseason cerebrovascular function in adolescent athletes. Athletes (n = 53, age = 15.8 ± 1.2 years) were examined based on three exposure groupings: (1) sport participation (football vs. non-collision), (2) concussion history (none vs. ≥ 1), and (3) age of first exposure (football participants only). Transcranial Doppler assessed cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) and neurovascular coupling (NVC), and separate independent samples t-tests evaluated group differences in CVR and NVC outcomes. Separate univariate linear regressions determined how age of first exposure related to CVR and NVC outcomes. Linear mixed effects models assessed group differences in CVR and NVC relative response curves. Differential response to NVC visual task response was significantly greater in non-collision sport athletes (F1,2946 = 38.69, p < 0.0001) and athletes without a concussion history (F1,2946 = 25.23, p < 0.0001). Older age of first exposure significantly predicted reduced breath-holding CVR response (F1,1560 = 2.92, p = 0.03). Healthy adolescent athletes have similar pre-season cerebrovascular function despite different sport participation and concussion history. However, age of first exposure may predict CVR in adolescent football athletes. Developmental literature identifies cerebrovascular function as dynamically changing throughout adolescence. Our study provides fundamental data informing the clinical meaningfulness of short- and long-term physiological function changes.
Keywords: Age of first exposure; Cerebral blood flow; Concussion; Football; High school, neural activation; Subconcussion.
© 2021. Biomedical Engineering Society.