Correlating Magnetoencephalography, Diffusion Kurtosis Imaging, Biomechanics, and Neuropsychology in American Youth Football
This study investigated the association between repetitive head impacts (RHIs) and multimodal neuroimaging, biomechanical, and neuropsychological data in 72 youth football players and 17 controls, aged 8-12 years. Helmet sensors measured RHI exposure while imaging and psychological data were collected before and after the season. Risk-weighted exposure metrics were calculated to quantify cumulative RHI exposure. Changes in magnetoencephalography (MEG) and diffusion kurtosis imaging were analyzed by calculating voxel-wise difference, and z-score maps were thresholded with respect to controls. Using linear regression, statistically significant positive associations were observed between abnormally increased MEG-measured theta (5-7 Hz) power and RHI measures. No associations were found between RHI and other neuroimaging metrics. Football players and controls exhibited significant yet divergent associations between alpha (8-12 Hz) power as well as mean kurtosis and neuropsychological changes. These findings indicate a potential association between youth football players' exposure to RHI and neurophysiological alterations.
Authors
- Christopher T. Whitlow (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2392-8293)
- Joel D. Stitzel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9762-3033)
- James M. Holcomb (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5551-3936)
- Elizabeth M. Davenport (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8765-6584)
- Jesse C. DeSimone (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3823-8765)
- Alexander K. Powers (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0125-9762)
- Mark A. Espeland (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3711-1949)
- Christopher L. Vaughan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9147-8648)
- Amy L. Proskovec (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7660-0318)
- Yin Xi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9743-3010)
- Joseph A. Maldjian (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6384-1072)
- Jillian E. Urban (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7348-9244)
- Natalie Bell (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8890-6840)
- Fang Yu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9913-1331)
- Sahil Chilukuri (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9781-0362)
- Ben Wagner
Institutions
- Children's National (US)
- University of Florida (US)
- Virginia Tech - Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering & Sciences (US)
- Advanced Imaging Research (United States) (US)
- Wake Forest University (US)
- The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Neurotrauma
- Published
- 2025-05-07
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1089/neu.2024.0222
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Traumatic Brain Injury Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.35