LAUSR.org creates dashboard-style pages of related content for over 1.5 million academic articles. Sign Up to like articles & get recommendations!

Association between serum NfL and GFAP levels and head impact burden in women's collegiate water polo.

Photo by a2eorigins from unsplash

Recent investigations have identified water polo athletes as at risk for concussions and repetitive subconcussive head impacts. However, head impact exposure in collegiate varsity women's water polo has not yet… Click to show full abstract

Recent investigations have identified water polo athletes as at risk for concussions and repetitive subconcussive head impacts. However, head impact exposure in collegiate varsity women's water polo has not yet been longitudinally quantified. We aimed to determine the relationship between cumulative and acute head impact exposure across preseason training and changes in serum biomarkers of brain injury. Twenty-two Division I collegiate women's water polo players were included in this prospective observational study. They wore sensor-installed mouthguards during all practices and scrimmages during eight weeks of preseason training. Serum samples were collected at six time points (at baseline, before and after scrimmages during week 4 and 7, and after the eight-week preseason training period) and assayed for neurofilament light (NfL) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) using Simoa® Human Neurology 2-Plex B assay kits. Serum GFAP increased over time (e.g., an increase of 0.6559 pg/mL per week; p = 0.0087). However, neither longitudinal nor acute pre-post scrimmage changes in GFAP were associated with head impact exposure. Contrarily, an increase in serum NfL across the study period was associated with cumulative head impact magnitude (sum of peak linear acceleration: B = 0.015, SE = 0.006, p = 0.016; sum of peak rotational acceleration: B = 0.148, SE = 0.048, p = 0.006). Acute changes in serum NfL were not associated with head impacts recorded during the two selected scrimmages. Hormonal contraceptive use was associated with lower serum NfL and GFAP levels over time, and elevated salivary levels of progesterone were also associated with lower serum NfL levels. These results suggest that detecting increases in serum NfL may be a useful way to monitor cumulative head impact burden in women's contact sports and that female-specific factors, such as hormonal contraceptive use and circulating progesterone levels, may be neuroprotective, warranting further investigations.

Keywords: water polo; head impact; serum nfl

Journal Title: Journal of neurotrauma
Year Published: 2022

Link to full text (if available)


Share on Social Media:                               Sign Up to like & get
recommendations!

Related content

More Information              News              Social Media              Video              Recommended



                Click one of the above tabs to view related content.