CHRONIC TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY IN PROFESSIONAL SOCCER PLAYERS

Objective: To determine the presence of chronic traumatic brain injury in professional soccer players. Methods: Fifty-three active professio nal soccer players from several professional Dutch soccer clubs were c ompared with a control group of 27 elite noncontact sport athletes. Al l participants underwent neuropsychological examination. The main outc ome measures were neuropsychological tests proven to be sensitive to c ognitive changes incurred during contact and collision sports. Results : The professional soccer players exhibited impaired performances in m emory, planning, and visuoperceptual processing when compared with con trol subjects. Among professional soccer players, performance on memor y, planning, and visuoperceptual tasks were inversely related to the n umber of concussions incurred in soccer and the frequency of 'heading' the ball. Performance on neuropsychological testing also varied accor ding to field position, with forward and defensive players exhibiting more impairment. Conclusion: Participation in professional soccer may affect adversely some aspects of cognitive functioning (i.e., memory, planning, and visuoperceptual processing).