Study: Milder Head Blows May Affect Brain

A season of contact sports may affect memory and thinking, even if no concussion occurs, a new study suggests. The study included 80 college football and ice hockey players who did not have prior concussions. During a season of play in their sports, they wore helmets that recorded all blows to the head. These players were compared with 79 college athletes in non-contact sports such as track and crew. All players received brain scans and tests of memory and learning ability before and after the season. The 5 athletes who had concussions during the season were dropped from the study. Among the rest, about 20% of athletes in contact sports performed worse than expected on their tests after the season. About 11% of the non-contact athletes had such a result. Brain scans showed more abnormal areas among those who had lower test scores and more head impacts as recorded by their helmets.