Blink duration is increased in concussed youth athletes: a validity study using eye tracking in male youth and adult athletes of selected contact sports

Abstract

Abstract Objective. Diagnosing a sports-related concussion (SRC) remains challenging, and research into diagnostic tools is limited. This study investigated whether selected eye tracking variables would be a valid tool to diagnose and monitor SRC in adult and youth participants in selected contact sports, such as Rugby Union (rugby) and football (soccer). Methods. This prospective cohort study, with 70 concussed and 92 non-concussed adult and youth athletes, assessed the validity of five previously selected eye tracking variables for SRC diagnostics and management. The performance between concussed and age-matched control (non-concussed) athletes, as well as between three successive testing sessions in the concussed athletes were compared. Self-paced saccade count in adult group; blink duration in the memory-guided saccade and sinusoidal smooth pursuit tasks, proportion of antisaccade errors, and gain of diagonal smooth pursuit in the youth group were assessed. Results. The youth concussed group had higher blink duration in the fast memory-guided saccades task (p = 0.001, η 2 = 0.17) and a tendency for higher blink duration in the sinusoidal smooth pursuit task (p = 0.016, η 2 = 0.06) compared to the youth control group. In both tasks the blink duration in the concussed youth group decreased from session 1 to session 2 by 24% and 18%, accordingly, although statistical significance was not reached. The concussed adult group demonstrated a lower number of self-paced saccades compared to controls (p = 0.05, η 2 = 0.09), which gradually increased, with the largest difference between session 1 and session 3 (p = 0.02). Conclusions. Blink duration in youth athletes holds promise as a valid metric for concussion diagnostics and monitoring. It is recommended to focus future studies on comparing eye tracking performance within the same concussed athletes over time rather than comparing them to healthy controls.