The largest study of its kind has been launched to examine the risks between repetitive head impacts (RHI) in football and developing dementia, cognitive decline, and changes in behaviour and mood later in life.
The Head Impact & Trauma Surveillance Study (HITSS) is an online annual assessment, which includes questions about sports participation, RHI exposure, concussion and medical history, computerised memory and cognitive tests, and behaviour and mood questionnaires.
Internationally-renowned researchers from Boston University and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have pioneered the study, which will look at the experiences of people playing sports across the United States.
“Exposure to repetitive hits to the head have been associated with later life brain disease and disorders,” said HITSS principal investigator Dr Robert Stern, director of clinical research for the BU Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Center.
“However, critical gaps in scientific knowledge remain, and many important questions need to be answered. We developed HITSS to find these answers.”
“Through HITSS, we want to determine whether sub-concussive head impacts from ordinary plays, such as heading a soccer ball or routine blocking and tackling in football, increase risk for later life mood and behavioural changes, as well as for memory and thinking impairments,” added HITSS co-investigator, Dr Michael Weiner, professor of radiology and biomedical imaging, medicine, psychiatry and neurology at UCSF.
In addition to examining the risk factors for cognitive impairment, neurobehavioral dysregulation and dementia, HITSS aims to determine if sex, race, social determinants of health, vascular risk profile, sleep quality, and/or substance abuse modify risks from RHI exposure from participation in soccer and tackle football.
HITSS is an extension of the existing Brain Health Registry (BHR) at UCSF, an online study, directed by Dr Weiner, of more than 80,000 participants used for the study of people interested in participating in brain ageing, Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and AD related dementias research.
“While there have been significant research advances in recent years, past studies have been limited by focusing solely on former professional tackle football players and/or including only small numbers of male participants,” said Matt Roebuck, HITSS recruitment coordinator.
“To move the science forward, we are launching a nationwide campaign, featuring several familiar faces from soccer and tackle football, to enrol thousands of people who played organised soccer or tackle football at any point in their lives.”
