PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Terrell, Thomas Roland
AU  - Abramson, Ruth
AU  - Barth, Jeffery T
AU  - Bennett, Ellen
AU  - Cantu, Robert C
AU  - Sloane, Richard
AU  - Laskowitz, Daniel T
AU  - Erlanger, David M
AU  - McKeag, Douglas
AU  - Nichols, Gregory
AU  - Valentine, Verle
AU  - Galloway, Leslie
TI  - Genetic polymorphisms associated with the risk of concussion in 1056 college athletes: a multicentre prospective cohort study
AID  - 10.1136/bjsports-2016-097419
DP  - 2018 Feb 01
TA  - British Journal of Sports Medicine
PG  - 192--198
VI  - 52
IP  - 3
4099  - http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/52/3/192.short
4100  - http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/52/3/192.full
SO  - Br J Sports Med2018 Feb 01; 52
AB  - Background/aim To evaluate the association of genetic polymorphisms APOE, APOE G-219T promoter, microtubule associated protein(MAPT)/tau exon 6 Ser53Pro, MAPT/tau Hist47Tyr, IL-6572 G/C and IL-6R Asp358Ala with the risk of concussion in college athletes.Methods A 23-centre prospective cohort study of 1056 college athletes with genotyping was completed between August 2003 and December 2012. All athletes completed baseline medical and concussion questionnaires, and post-concussion data were collected for athletes with a documented concussion.Results The study cohort consisted of 1056 athletes of mean±SD age 19.7±1.5 years, 89.3% male, 59.4% Caucasian, 35.0% African-American, 5.6% other race. The athletes participated in American football, soccer, basketball, softball, men’s wrestling and club rugby. A total of 133 (12.1% prevalence) concussions occurred during an average surveillance of 3 years per athlete. We observed a significant positive association between IL-6R CC (p=0.001) and a negative association between APOE4 (p=0.03) and the risk of concussion. Unadjusted and adjusted logistic regression analysis showed a significant association between IL-6R CC and concussion (OR 3.48; 95% CI 1.58 to 7.65; p=0.002) and between the APOE4 allele and concussion (OR 0.61; 95% CI 0.38 to 0.96; p=0.04), which persisted after adjustment for confounders.Conclusions IL-6R CC was associated with a three times greater concussion risk and APOE4 with a 40% lower risk.