Functional Connectivity Changes in Retired Rugby League Players: A Data-Driven Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Sports Medicine
• Brain Imaging

Background:

• Long-term brain health in retired athletes is a growing concern.
• Functional brain connectivity changes after contact/collision sports are not well understood.
• Sport-related concussions may impact neural networks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whole-brain functional connectivity differences between retired athletes and controls.
• To determine if altered functional connectivity can distinguish retired athletes from healthy individuals.
• To identify specific brain regions with abnormal connectivity patterns.

Main Methods:

• Multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA) applied to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data.
• Comparison of 32 retired athletes (multiple concussions) with 36 healthy controls.
• Utilized Conn toolbox for whole-brain MVPA and seed-to-voxel analyses.

Main Results:

• Abnormal functional connectivity identified in cerebellar lobule V, associated with the ventral attention network.
• Retired athletes exhibited both hyper-connectivity and hypo-connectivity in cerebral cortical regions.
• Cerebellar dysfunction was indicated as a potential finding in this athlete cohort.

Conclusions:

• Altered functional connectivity, particularly involving the cerebellum, may be present in retired contact sport athletes.
• Cerebellar dysfunction could play a clinically significant role in the brain health of some former athletes.
• This study provides initial evidence suggesting a link between cerebellar changes and brain connectivity in retired athletes.