Background SCORES (Screening Cognitive Outcomes after Repetitive head impact Exposure in Sport) is a 10-year longitudinal study investigating the brain health of former athletes as they age, monitoring signs of prodromal dementia in an online setting.

Objective To determine the acceptability of the SCORES study format and early trends in performance between contact-sport exposure groups.

Design Online prospective cohort study.

Participants Male and female former athletes (n=288) aged 40+ without diagnosed dementia completed the first assessments.

Outcome Measures Participants repeated an online battery of cognitive, mental health and behavioural assessments at six-month intervals. Age-matched participants exposed to professional contact sport were compared to amateur athletes and a large normative sample. To determine the acceptability of the study, we conducted semi-structured interviews with eight participants.

Main Results Early findings suggest some group differences between age-matched amateurs and professionals, particularly in cognitive tasks. Comparisons with normative data suggest similar outcomes. The online setting was found both accessible and of low burden.

Conclusions The SCORES study is effectively monitoring the brain health of athletes as they age. The study format is acceptable to participants, and preliminary evidence suggests some differences between participants exposed to repetitive sport-related head injury and our control groups in measures of cognitive, mental, and behavioural health. Further data collection will continue to explore the rate of cognitive decline in contact vs. non-contact athletes.