Eye Tracking: Objective Assessment for Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in Youth Athletes (2021-2022)
Brain injury is so common in children that it is currently the leading source of injury and death. Sports-related concussions in children and adolescents (5-18 years) account for up to 60 percent of all pediatric concussions.
Although mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is an important public health issue for both the general pediatric population and youth athletes, there are still many challenges in obtaining objective diagnoses of mTBI or quantifying the physiological implications of cumulative subconcussive (low-level) insults.
This project team assessed how head impact exposure may contribute to observable deficits in oculomotor response that can be tracked and used for diagnostic purposes. Team members assessed local youth athletes with an oculomotor assessment routine that includes reflexive (pro-saccades), anti-saccades and memory-guided saccades, and compare these data to in-season documentation of concussions and levels of impact/practice exposure.
Quantification of head impact exposure experienced by participants required the use of questionnaires and an earpiece sensor (DASHR) developed at Duke. The sample population included youth athletes from five years of age to the high school level.
This was the seventh year of an ongoing longitudinal study. On a yearly basis, the team has seen a relatively low number of concussions within its study. However, tracking and combining data on concussed individuals over multiple years will strengthen the team’s ability to ascertain differences between concussed and nonconcussed populations across multiple ages and levels of play.
Learn more about this project team by viewing the team's video.
Timing
Summer 2021 – Spring 2022
Reflections
Team Outputs
Research posters and conference presentations
This Team in the News
Senior Spotlight: Reflections from the Class of 2023
The Test and the Tackle: A New Way to Measure Head Injury in Youth Football
Meet the Members of the 2023-2024 Student Advisory Council
See related teams, Eye Tracking: Objective Assessment for Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in Youth Athletes (2022-2023) and Eye Tracking: Objective Assessment for Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in Youth Athletes (2020-2021).
Image: Youth Football Poquoson Bulls Williamsburg Green Hornets PYFCO Mites Juniors Peninsula Virginia Va., by C Watts, licensed under CC BY 2.0