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Athletes with concussion history have more visual symptoms
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CHICAGO – “There does not appear to be long-term impact of presumably healed concussion on general visual function, but those with visual symptoms had worse visual acuity and slower central visuomotor reaction time,” Kristine Dalton, OD, PhD, FAAO, reported here at the American Academy of Optometry meeting.
Dalton shared her study findings at an academy-sponsored press conference, stating that athletes who have a history of concussion experience more visual symptoms than athletes who have had no concussion.
Some athletes and armed forces members can have up to 15 concussions in their lifetime, Dalton said.
“We know if you get one and have another one, it could be a prolonged recovery,” she said. “Are there residual things after concussions have healed?”
Dalton and colleagues performed a retrospective study of 319 varsity athletes who played baseball, soccer, hockey and football and skated and swam. They were between 17 and 29 years old, and 31% were female.
“We asked them about vision symptoms every day and while playing sports,” Dalton said.
They inquired about blurry vision, light sensitivity, visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, stereopsis and history of concussion.
“Twenty-seven percent had a history of at least one concussion, which puts them at higher risk of the next one,” she said. “We also found athletes with a history of concussion appear to have more symptoms every day, although not statistically significant.”
Visual acuity was about the same for athletes with and without a history of concussion, she continued.
“But in athletes with symptoms, every day and in school, they had worse visual acuity, by about three letters,” Dalton said. “We also looked at those who had symptoms during sports; they had a slower visual reaction time.”
One-third of the varsity athlete population is at a higher risk of concussion because they have already had at least one, she said.
Dalton said future research will consider those with multiple injuries. – by Nancy Hemphill, ELS, FAAO
Reference:
Dalton, K. Does a history of concussion matter? Presented at: American Academy of Optometry meeting; Chicago; Oct. 10-14, 2017.
Disclosure: Dalton reported no relevant financial disclosures. This study was supported by the Undergraduate Research Internship program at the University of Waterloo and a University of Waterloo, School of Optometry & Vision Science 2016 Summer Research Award.