Plasma Neurofilament Light and Its Relationship With Omega-3 Status and Soccer Heading in Women Soccer Players

University of Kansas Medical Center27 enrolled

Overview

The purpose of this study is to (1) assess how a competitive season of purposeful gameplay soccer heading in collegiate women soccer players is related to a blood biomarker for sports-related brain injury, plasma neurofilament light (NF-L), and (2) examine how a player's omega-3 status is related to plasma NF-L concentration changes during and after a competitive season of gameplay soccer heading.

Study Type

OBSERVATIONAL

Enrollment

Conditions

Brain Trauma

Interventions

Plasma Neurofilament Light (NF-L)OTHER

Plasma NF-L is a biomarker of axonal brain injury following sports-related head impacts.

Omega-3 IndexOTHER

Omega-3 Index is the omega-3 fatty acid content of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) within the erythrocyte cell membrane. It is expressed as EPA+DHA as a percent of total identified fatty acids.

HeadCount QuestionnaireOTHER

HeadCount is a web-based, structured, self-administered questionnaire to assess longer-term heading exposure during competitive play and is administered bi-weekly.

Eligibility

Sex: FEMALEMin age: 18 YearsMax age: 25 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * At least 18 years of age. * Active player on the university's current team roster for the upcoming competitive season. * Is eligible to participate in games and is not redshirting. Exclusion Criteria: * Is recovering from a Physician diagnosed concussion. * Is recovering from another injury prohibiting the study participant from participating in all sport-related activities.

Locations (2)

University of Missouri Kansas City

Kansas City, Missouri, United States

Rockhurst University

Kansas City, Missouri, United States

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Change in plasma neurofilament light concentrations from baseline, during, and after a competitive season.

Plasma neurofilament light (pg/mL) is a biomarker of axonal brain injury following sports-related head impacts.

Time frame: Baseline, 1 Months, 2 Months, 3 Months, 6 Months

Change in purposeful soccer heading frequencies from baseline, during, and after a competitive season.

HeadCount is a web-based, structured, self-administered questionnaire to assess longer-term heading frequencies (#) during competitive play and is administered bi-weekly.

Time frame: Baseline, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 6 weeks, 8 weeks, 10 weeks, 12 weeks, 14 weeks

Change in Omega-3 status from baseline, during, and after a competitive season.

Omega-3 Index (%) is the omega-3 fatty acid content of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) within membrane of red blood cell. It is expressed as EPA+DHA as a percent of total identified fatty acids.

Time frame: Baseline, 1 Months, 2 Months, 3 Months, 6 Months

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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