Hormonal contraception use does not appear to affect concussion baseline assessments
By Keya Mookencherry. This article was initially published in our Concussion Update newsletter; please consider subscribing.
According to a study done by Moran et al., hormonal contraceptives do not appear to influence neurocognition and oculomotor baseline assessment measures for sport-related concussion (SRC).
Female athletes commonly use hormonal contraceptives (HC), which can affect many body systems in different ways. This study aimed to examine whether HC use impacts computerized neurocognitive testing (CNT), oculomotor testing of near-point convergence (NPC), and the King-Devick (KD) test in college-age individuals. The study, published in Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, concluded there were no significant differences between individuals using HC and those who were not.
The study included 63 participants split into three groups: 22 females using HC, 22 females not using HC, and 19 males. Each group completed a baseline test consisting of CNT, NPC, and the KD test. NPC testing measures the ability of the patient to see a target item as a single item, the clinician bringing it closer to the nose of the patient. NPC can be thought of as the distance from the eyes where both eyes are unable to adjust to maintain focus, resulting in double vision. The King-Devick test’s purpose is to measure “saccadic eye speed” and provide “an immediate, low-cost indicator of head trauma or suspected concussion” while testing for suboptimal cognitive function.“CNT measures were composite scores of verbal and visual memory, visual motor processing speed and reaction time, impulse control, and cognitive efficiency index (CEI).”
The researchers measured NPC as the average convergence across three trials, and KD time “was recorded as total time for each of the 2 trials and best trial marked at baseline.” Experiment results showed no group differences between CNT composite scores, impulse control, and CEI between all three groups. They also marked NPC distance as similar and KD time by trial.
