LAUSR

Dr. Satyarthee nicely characterizes the potential roles of an ideal serum biomarker of brain injury and a broad limitation of current brain injury biomarker research: the unknown influence of factors unrelated to brain injury on biomarker concentrations. Concussion Biomarkers Assessed in Collegiate Student-Athletes (BASICS) I addressed how sex and race affected serum biomarker concentrations in nonconcussed university athletes.1 BASICS II then evaluated how history of brain trauma affected baseline biomarker concentrations in the same healthy group.2 Sex and race significantly affected serum biomarker levels, whereas history of concussion (single or repeated) and collision sport exposure did not. Pregnancy, malnutrition, and other comorbid medical conditions may also affect serum biomarker circulation, but such factors are exceedingly rare in university athlete samples compared with general civilian populations.