Tipo de participación deportiva y función cognitiva en estudiantes-atletas universitarios

Considerable concerns have been expressed regarding potential neurocognitive deficits associated with contact and collision sports participation. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of sport-type participation on cognitive performance during the trail making test (TMT). We assessed 543 student-athletes from two universities, classified as collision, contact, or non-contact sport athletes, who performed the TMT. Three ANCOVA's compared performance with common confounders as covariates. There was no difference between TMT-A (p=0.381) and TMT-B (p=0.063) time. There was a significant main effect for TMT-Diff performance (Non-Contact: 17.3 + 9.1 sec; Contact: 20.1 + 10.5 sec; Collision: 24.3 + 11.8 sec; F=6.278, p=0.002, ηp2 = 0.020). There was a significant post-hoc difference only between the contact/collision and non-contact groups (p=0.001, d=0.66). Collision sport athletes worse TMT-Diff performance warrants ongoing cognitive assessments with longitudinal designs. However, collision sport athlete's performance was better than general college students supporting the positive benefits of physical activity on cognitive performance.