Association of Nonconcussive Repetitive Head Impacts and Intense Physical Activity With Levels of Phosphorylated Tau181 and Total Tau in Plasma of Young Elite Soccer Players.

Importance: Head impacts resulting in traumatic brain injury (TBI) lead to the elevation of phosphorylated tau protein (p-tau181) in plasma. To our knowledge, this study is the first to investigate dynamics of p-tau181 levels and the ratio of p-tau181 to total tau in individuals after nonconcussive head impacts.

Objective: To determine the association of repetitive low-intensity head impacts on p-tau181 and total tau protein levels in the plasma of young adult elite soccer players and assess the possible association of head impacts with focused attention and cognitive flexibility.

Head impacts in youth national hockey leagues in Slovakia: a retrospective analysis of four seasons.

Traumatic brain injury in contact sports can lead to serious health consequences either immediately or later in the life of injured subjects. The objective of this study was to estimate the incidence of head impacts in the Under 18 (U18) and Under 20 (U20) junior ice-hockey leagues in Slovakia over the seasons 2013/2014-2016/2017 using data from official game statistics. Incidence risks (IR) per 1000 athlete exposures were calculated for the season and stratified by a period of the game, by month, round, and part of the season.