Subtle impairments of perceptual-motor function and well-being are detectable among military cadets and college athletes with self-reported history of concussion

INTRODUCTION: A lack of obvious long-term effects of concussion on standard clinical measures of behavioral performance capabilities does not preclude the existence of subtle neural processing impairments that appear to be linked to elevated risk for subsequent concussion occurrence, and which may be associated with greater susceptibility to progressive neurodegenerative processes. The purpose of this observational cohort study was to assess virtual reality motor response variability and survey responses as possible indicators of suboptimal brain function among military cadets and college athletes with self-reported history of concussion (HxC). METHODS: The cohort comprised 75 college students (20.7 ± 2.1 years): 39 Reserve Officer Training Corp (ROTC) military cadets (10 female), 16 football players, and 20 wrestlers; HxC self-reported by 20 (29.2 ± 27.1 months prior, range: 3–96). A virtual reality (VR) test involving 40 lunging/reaching responses to horizontally moving dots (filled/congruent: same direction; open/incongruent: opposite direction) was administered, along with the Sport Fitness and Wellness Index (SFWI) survey. VR Dispersion (standard deviation of 12 T-scores for neck, upper extremity, and lower extremity responses to congruent vs. incongruent stimuli originating from central vs. peripheral locations) and SFWI response patterns were the primary outcomes of interest. RESULTS: Logistic regression modeling of VR Dispersion (range: 1.5–21.8), SFWI (range: 44–100), and an interaction between them provided 81% HxC classification accuracy (Model χ(2)[2] = 26.03, p < .001; Hosmer & Lemeshow χ(2)[8] = 1.86, p = .967; Nagelkerke R(2 )= .427; Area Under Curve = .841, 95% CI: .734, .948). Binary modeling that included VR Dispersion ≥3.2 and SFWI ≤86 demonstrated 75% sensitivity and 86% specificity with both factors positive (Odds Ratio = 17.6, 95% CI: 5.0, 62.1). DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION: Detection of subtle indicators of altered brain processes that might otherwise remain unrecognized is clearly important for both short-term and long-term clinical management of concussion. Inconsistency among neck, upper extremity, and lower extremity responses to different types of moving visual stimuli, along with survey responses suggesting suboptimal well-being, merit further investigation as possible clinical indicators of persisting effects of concussion that might prove to be modifiable.