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Concussion and traumatic brain injury in athletes has been a frequent subject in the lay press recently, given growing interest in chronic traumatic encephalopathy as a distinct neurodegenerative entity; however, scientific studies on the topic are few and often contradictory. To assess the effect of repetitive head impacts on cognitive performance, researchers prospectively compared pre- and postseason neuropsychological test results between 214 Division I college athletes who played contact sports (ice hockey or football) and 45 such athletes who played noncontact sports. Contact-sport athletes wore helmets that recorded acceleration, duration, and location of head impact.
Contact-sport athletes were exposed to a mean of 469 distinct head …