Impact of Sports-related Concussions on the Attention and Executive Skills of Adolescents and Young Adults: Links With Subjective Symptoms and Recovery

Concussion in sports ("Sports-Related Concussion" or "SRC") are a public health issue. The management of these injuries is evolving rapidly and decisions to return to play are based on clinical judgment. It is now recognized that the assessment of cognitive function must be one of the components of the assessment, in particular, in the protocol used to decide if a patient can resume practice. The available scales include only a brief cognitive assessment but do not provide an understanding of the level of deficit treatment. The use of computerized TAP (Test of Attentionnal Performance) tests, including finer measures of reaction time and apprehending the different attention and executive components (alertnes, orientation, flexibility, inhibition, updating), would allow a better understanding of the nature of the disorder and link it to subjective symptoms, and recovery.