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Updated: Jul 21, 2026
A Neuroscientific Approach to the Examination of Concussions in Student-Athletes
Published on: December 8, 2014
Incremental Effects of Subsequent Concussions on Cognitive Symptoms in the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool
Jian Chen1, Bruce Oddson, Hannah Skrinar
1School of Human Kinetics and Health Sciences, Laurentian University, Sudbury, ON, Canada.
Objective:
Patients who are fully recovered from a concussion may still be more vulnerable in the face of subsequent concussions. This study examines symptoms associated with repeated concussions in young and otherwise healthy adults.
Design:
Cross sectional.
Setting:
Institutional study at a university setting.
Participants:
University students with a history of concussion.
Independent Variables:
Participants were grouped based on numbers of concussions.
Main Outcome Measures:
The impact of incremental concussion on symptom clusters in Sport Concussion Assessment Tools 5 and Spearman ranking correlation coefficients between symptom clusters.
Results:
One hundred thirty-five participants reported having had 1 concussion, 63 reported 2 concussions, 50 reported 3 concussions, and 43 reported 4 to 6 concussions. Total severity scores over the range of concussion number (1, 2, 3, and greater than 3) did not show a clear incremental effect. However, average scores of cognitive symptoms rose with each subsequent concussion ( P ≤ 0.05). The largest incremental effect observed was that of second concussions on emotional symptom scores (t = 5.85, P < 0.01). Symptoms in the emotional and cognitive clusters were the most correlated regardless of the number of reported concussions; the correlations were lowest with symptoms associated with sensitivity to light or noise.
Conclusions:
The incremental rise of cognitive symptom scores with each concussion affirms the importance of cognitive impairment in concussion assessment and implies a cumulative brain vulnerability that persists even after symptom resolution. The cognitive-emotional symptom clusters may reflect underlying concussion-induced impairments in the corticostriatothalamocortical (CSTC) networks, although sensitivity symptoms are potentially attributable to different neural correlates.
