Eye movement performance and clinical outcomes among female athletes post-concussion

<p>Most post-concussion eye movement (EM) research involves predominantly male samples. We evaluated pro- (PRO; reflexive shift of visual attention to target) and anti- (ANTI; executive control of visual attention away from target) computer-based saccade task performance among female, collegiate athletes with recent concussion (<i>CON</i>) versus healthy-control athletes (<i>HC</i>). We evaluated the relationship between EM performance and post-concussion outcomes. We hypothesized ANTI performance would differ among <i>CON</i> and <i>HC</i> due to greater executive control demands, and that EM performance (both tasks) would be associated with clinical outcomes in <i>CON</i>.</p> <p>16 <i>CON</i> (assessed 4–10 days post-injury [M = 6.87, SD = 2.15 days]) and 16 age-matched <i>HC</i> athletes were recruited. General linear mixed modeling and Pearson’s correlations were used.</p> <p>On ANTI, <i>CON</i> demonstrated higher error rate [<i>F</i>(1,2863) = 12.650, <i>p</i><.001] and shorter latency on error trials [<i>F</i>(1,469) = 5.976, <i>p</i>=.015] relative to <i>HC</i>. Multiple EM measures were associated with clinical outcomes: PRO duration predicted days to symptom remission (<i>r</i>=.44, <i>p</i> <.05); ANTI error rate was associated with symptom burden on the day of testing (<i>r</i>=.27, <i>p</i> <.05).</p> <p>This study demonstrates promising utility of EM measures to detect cognitive control and sensorimotor effects of concussion among female athletes and their use as a prognostic indicators of recovery.</p>