Abstract
Objective: To determine whether tau changes after sport-related concussion (SRC) relate to return to play (RTP).
Methods: Collegiate athletes underwent preseason plasma sampling and cognitive testing and were followed. After a SRC (n = 46), athletes and controls (n = 37) had sampling at 6 hours, and at 24 hours, 72 hours, and 7 days after SRC. A sample of 21 nonathlete controls were compared at baseline. SRC athletes were grouped by long (>10 days, n = 23) and short (≤10 days, n = 18) RTP. Total tau was measured using an ultrasensitive immunoassay.
Results: Both SRC and athlete controls had significantly higher mean tau at baseline compared to nonathlete healthy controls (F101,3 = 19.644, p < 0.01). Compared to SRC athletes with short RTP, those with long RTP had higher tau concentrations overall, after controlling for sex (F39,1 = 3.59, p = 0.022), compared to long RTP athletes, at 6 (p < 0.01), 24 (p < 0.01), and 72 hours (p = 0.02). Receiver operator characteristic analyses showed that higher plasma tau 6 hours post-SRC was a significant predictor of RTP >10 days (area under the curve 0.81; 95% confidence interval 0.62–0.97, p = 0.01).
Conclusions: Elevated plasma tau concentration within 6 hours following a SRC was related to having a prolonged RTP, suggesting that tau levels may help inform RTP.
GLOSSARY
- ANOVA=
- analysis of variance;
- AUC=
- area under the curve;
- BESS=
- Balance Error Scoring System;
- CI=
- confidence interval;
- CTE=
- chronic traumatic encephalopathy;
- ImPACT=
- Immediate Postconcussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing;
- mTBI=
- mild traumatic brain injury;
- NCAA=
- National Collegiate Athletic Association;
- RTP=
- return to play;
- SRC=
- sports-related concussions;
- TBI=
- traumatic brain injury
Footnotes
Go to Neurology.org for full disclosures. Funding information and disclosures deemed relevant by the authors, if any, are provided at the end of the article. The Article Processing Charge was paid by the authors.
Editorial, page 512
- Received May 20, 2016.
- Accepted in final form October 10, 2016.
- Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the American Academy of Neurology
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND), which permits downloading and sharing the work provided it is properly cited. The work cannot be changed in any way or used commercially without permission from the journal.
Letters: Rapid online correspondence
- Biofluid biomarkers of concussion: One size does not fit all
REQUIREMENTS
If you are uploading a letter concerning an article:
You must have updated your disclosures within six months: http://submit.neurology.org
Your co-authors must send a completed Publishing Agreement Form to Neurology Staff (not necessary for the lead/corresponding author as the form below will suffice) before you upload your comment.
If you are responding to a comment that was written about an article you originally authored:
You (and co-authors) do not need to fill out forms or check disclosures as author forms are still valid
and apply to letter.
Submission specifications:
- Submissions must be < 200 words with < 5 references. Reference 1 must be the article on which you are commenting.
- Submissions should not have more than 5 authors. (Exception: original author replies can include all original authors of the article)
- Submit only on articles published within 6 months of issue date.
- Do not be redundant. Read any comments already posted on the article prior to submission.
- Submitted comments are subject to editing and editor review prior to posting.
You May Also be Interested in
Dr. Jessica Ailani and Dr. Zubair Ahmed