Age of first exposure to soccer heading: Associations with cognitive, clinical, and imaging outcomes in the Einstein Soccer Study.

The objective of this study is to assess the role of age at first exposure (AFE) to soccer heading as a predictor of known adverse associations of recent and longer-term heading with brain microstructure, cognitive, and behavioral features among adult amateur soccer players. The sample included 276 active amateur soccer players (196 male and 81 female) aged 18-53 years old. AFE to soccer heading was treated as a binary variable, dichotomized at ≤ 10 years vs. >10 years old, based on a recently promulgated US Soccer policy, which bans heading for athletes ages 10 and under. We found that soccer players who began heading at age 10 or younger performed better on tests of working memory ( The findings indicate that, among adult amateur soccer players, AFE to heading before age 10 compared to later start of heading, is not associated with adverse outcomes, and may be associated with better cognitive performance in young adulthood. Cumulative heading exposure across the lifespan, rather than early life exposure, may drive risk for adverse effects and should be the focus of future longitudinal studies to inform approaches to enhance player safety.

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Copyright © 2023 Charney, Ye, Fleysher, DeMessie, Stewart, Zimmerman, Kim, Lipton and Lipton.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

RL reports receiving research support from the NIH, FDA as well as the National Headache Foundation and the Marx Foundation, and receives research support from Allergan/Abbvie, Amgen, Eli Lilly and Electrocore, and receives personal fees as a consultant or advisor from Allergan/Abbvie, Amgen, Biohaven Holdings, Dr. Reddy's, GlaxoSmithKline, Grifols, Lundbeck, Merck, Novartis and Teva Pharmaceuticals, he holds stock or options in Biohaven Holdings and CtrlM Health. In addition, he receives royalties for Wolff's Headache 7th and 8th Edition. ML reports receiving research support from the NIH and Dana Foundation. WS was employed by Medcurio Inc. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.