Cerebral Cortical Surface Structure and Neural Activation Pattern Among Adolescent Football Players

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2814507?utm_term=020124&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_medium=referral&_hsmi=292449474&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-98lAzjI3NQoqrJJEGOAXBQgD14VVaPQXP4QwoOtbj2Xp2p-3ccbMr_oVAtbPbp9SCyZZNFu6O4LBR66M9PSPiBTtdJsA&utm_source=For_The_Media High school football players already have differences in their brains compared to swimmers, cross-country runners, and tennis players, a new study in JAMA Network Open says, contrary to thinking that says it takes years of head impacts to change brain structure. Researchers studied 205 male football players and 70 other male athletes at five Midwestern high schools. Using advanced neuroimaging techniques, they found structural and physiological differences in brain regions that have been linked to mental health and well-being. Football players had cortical thinning and changes in brain folding as well as lower brain signaling and coherence in frontal and medial parts of the brain, but increased signaling and coherence in the occipital lobe. “These findings suggest playing football may be associated with a different trajectory of cortical maturations and aging processes,” the authors write, recommending a longer study to track “subtle yet cumulative changes in brain structure and neurophysiological effects due to repetitive head impacts.”