Long-term white matter and blood vessel changes after repeated head impacts in contact sports
Late Pathologies of Exposure to Repetitive Head Impacts from Contact Sports: White Matter and Vascular Contributions to Cognitive Impairment, Dementia, and Neuropsychiatric Symptoms
This project looks at how repeated head hits in contact sports affect brain wiring and blood vessels in former athletes over 50 and how those changes relate to memory, thinking, and mood.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Boston University Medical Campus NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Boston, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11175324 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
You would join a team from Boston University and UCSF that is enrolling about 200 former contact sport athletes over age 50, including men and women. Participants will have brain scans, vascular imaging, cognitive and mood testing, and clinical interviews while researchers also study donated brain tissue after death. The study combines living (in vivo) and post-mortem (ex vivo) data to link white matter damage and cerebrovascular disease with thinking and neuropsychiatric symptoms. The team will also look for risk factors that make these problems more likely or worse and try to separate these effects from tau-related pathology.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal candidates are former contact sport athletes over age 50, men and women, especially those with past repetitive head impacts and concerns about memory, thinking, or mood changes.
Not a fit: People without a history of repeated head impacts, those under age 50, or individuals whose cognitive or mood symptoms are clearly due to other medical conditions would be unlikely to benefit from this project.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could point to treatable white matter or vascular causes of cognitive decline and mood problems in former contact sport athletes, improving diagnosis and care.
How similar studies have performed: Smaller prior studies have found white matter degeneration and vascular disease in former football players linked to cognitive problems, but this large combined in vivo and ex vivo approach is relatively novel.
Where this research is happening
Boston, United States
- Boston University Medical Campus — Boston, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Alosco, Michael — Boston University Medical Campus
- Study coordinator: Alosco, Michael
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.