Parasympathetic Responses to Face Cooling in Adolescents with Sport-Related Concussion and After Clinical Recovery

Face cooling (FC) initiates the mammalian dive reflex, which elicits a parasympathetic autonomic response. In our pilot study, collegiate athletes had a blunted parasympathetic response to FC within 10 days of sport-related concussion (SRC). The objective of the current study was to assess the FC re...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Mohammad N. Haider, Haley M. Chizuk, Blair D. Johnson, Joel S. Burma, Jaffer A. Sayeed, Emma Anderson, Barry S. Willer, John J. Leddy
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Mary Ann Liebert 2025-01-01
Series:Neurotrauma Reports
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/neur.2024.0138
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850030794093887488
author Mohammad N. Haider
Haley M. Chizuk
Blair D. Johnson
Joel S. Burma
Jaffer A. Sayeed
Emma Anderson
Barry S. Willer
John J. Leddy
author_facet Mohammad N. Haider
Haley M. Chizuk
Blair D. Johnson
Joel S. Burma
Jaffer A. Sayeed
Emma Anderson
Barry S. Willer
John J. Leddy
author_sort Mohammad N. Haider
collection DOAJ
description Face cooling (FC) initiates the mammalian dive reflex, which elicits a parasympathetic autonomic response. In our pilot study, collegiate athletes had a blunted parasympathetic response to FC within 10 days of sport-related concussion (SRC). The objective of the current study was to assess the FC response in adolescent athletes with acute SRC and after clinical recovery. Symptomatic adolescents with SRC (n = 23, 15.48 ± 1.2 years, 52% male) had heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) measured during the FC test (7.83 ± 2.5 days since injury) and again after clinical recovery (46.44 ± 36.4 days later). Controls (n = 24, 15.83 ± 1.6 years, 58% male) performed the same assessments twice (48.00 ± 18.9 days apart). The main outcome measures were the rate of change in HR and HR variability (HRV) during the first 2 min of FC. Throughout FC, we found no significant differences between groups at the initial visit in the rate of change for HR (mean difference = 2.58 [−0.33, 5.50] bpm/min, p = 0.082), mean arterial BP (−0.02 [−3.49, 3.45] mmHg/min, p = 0.990), root mean square of successive differences (−13.46 [−34.02, 7.10] ms/min, p = 0.197) or low to high-frequency ratio (0.24 [−0.77, 1.25], p = 0.637). We also found no differences in our main outcome measures among concussed adolescents with delayed recovery (n = 10) compared with those with normal recovery (n = 13). A history of prior concussion had a significant effect on the HR and HRV responses to FC, suggesting that SRC may have prolonged effects on the autonomic nervous system (ANS). We conclude that acutely concussed adolescents do not differ from controls in parasympathetic response to FC acutely or upon recovery but that a history of concussion affects this response. We recommend that future studies control for concussion history when investigating the ANS in concussed adolescents.
format Article
id doaj-art-726686bcaa8c459e95d2dc4c6d061267
institution DOAJ
issn 2689-288X
language English
publishDate 2025-01-01
publisher Mary Ann Liebert
record_format Article
series Neurotrauma Reports
spelling doaj-art-726686bcaa8c459e95d2dc4c6d0612672025-08-20T02:59:07ZengMary Ann LiebertNeurotrauma Reports2689-288X2025-01-01619310510.1089/neur.2024.0138Parasympathetic Responses to Face Cooling in Adolescents with Sport-Related Concussion and After Clinical RecoveryMohammad N. Haider0Haley M. Chizuk1Blair D. Johnson2Joel S. Burma3Jaffer A. Sayeed4Emma Anderson5Barry S. Willer6John J. Leddy7Department of Orthopaedics, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, USA.Department of Orthopaedics, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, USA.Department of Kinesiology, School of Public Health, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, Indiana, USA.Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, USA.Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, USA.Department of Psychiatry, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, USA.Department of Orthopaedics, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, USA.Face cooling (FC) initiates the mammalian dive reflex, which elicits a parasympathetic autonomic response. In our pilot study, collegiate athletes had a blunted parasympathetic response to FC within 10 days of sport-related concussion (SRC). The objective of the current study was to assess the FC response in adolescent athletes with acute SRC and after clinical recovery. Symptomatic adolescents with SRC (n = 23, 15.48 ± 1.2 years, 52% male) had heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) measured during the FC test (7.83 ± 2.5 days since injury) and again after clinical recovery (46.44 ± 36.4 days later). Controls (n = 24, 15.83 ± 1.6 years, 58% male) performed the same assessments twice (48.00 ± 18.9 days apart). The main outcome measures were the rate of change in HR and HR variability (HRV) during the first 2 min of FC. Throughout FC, we found no significant differences between groups at the initial visit in the rate of change for HR (mean difference = 2.58 [−0.33, 5.50] bpm/min, p = 0.082), mean arterial BP (−0.02 [−3.49, 3.45] mmHg/min, p = 0.990), root mean square of successive differences (−13.46 [−34.02, 7.10] ms/min, p = 0.197) or low to high-frequency ratio (0.24 [−0.77, 1.25], p = 0.637). We also found no differences in our main outcome measures among concussed adolescents with delayed recovery (n = 10) compared with those with normal recovery (n = 13). A history of prior concussion had a significant effect on the HR and HRV responses to FC, suggesting that SRC may have prolonged effects on the autonomic nervous system (ANS). We conclude that acutely concussed adolescents do not differ from controls in parasympathetic response to FC acutely or upon recovery but that a history of concussion affects this response. We recommend that future studies control for concussion history when investigating the ANS in concussed adolescents.https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/neur.2024.0138autonomic nervous systemface coolingheart rate variabilitysport-related concussion
spellingShingle Mohammad N. Haider
Haley M. Chizuk
Blair D. Johnson
Joel S. Burma
Jaffer A. Sayeed
Emma Anderson
Barry S. Willer
John J. Leddy
Parasympathetic Responses to Face Cooling in Adolescents with Sport-Related Concussion and After Clinical Recovery
Neurotrauma Reports
autonomic nervous system
face cooling
heart rate variability
sport-related concussion
title Parasympathetic Responses to Face Cooling in Adolescents with Sport-Related Concussion and After Clinical Recovery
title_full Parasympathetic Responses to Face Cooling in Adolescents with Sport-Related Concussion and After Clinical Recovery
title_fullStr Parasympathetic Responses to Face Cooling in Adolescents with Sport-Related Concussion and After Clinical Recovery
title_full_unstemmed Parasympathetic Responses to Face Cooling in Adolescents with Sport-Related Concussion and After Clinical Recovery
title_short Parasympathetic Responses to Face Cooling in Adolescents with Sport-Related Concussion and After Clinical Recovery
title_sort parasympathetic responses to face cooling in adolescents with sport related concussion and after clinical recovery
topic autonomic nervous system
face cooling
heart rate variability
sport-related concussion
url https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/neur.2024.0138
work_keys_str_mv AT mohammadnhaider parasympatheticresponsestofacecoolinginadolescentswithsportrelatedconcussionandafterclinicalrecovery
AT haleymchizuk parasympatheticresponsestofacecoolinginadolescentswithsportrelatedconcussionandafterclinicalrecovery
AT blairdjohnson parasympatheticresponsestofacecoolinginadolescentswithsportrelatedconcussionandafterclinicalrecovery
AT joelsburma parasympatheticresponsestofacecoolinginadolescentswithsportrelatedconcussionandafterclinicalrecovery
AT jafferasayeed parasympatheticresponsestofacecoolinginadolescentswithsportrelatedconcussionandafterclinicalrecovery
AT emmaanderson parasympatheticresponsestofacecoolinginadolescentswithsportrelatedconcussionandafterclinicalrecovery
AT barryswiller parasympatheticresponsestofacecoolinginadolescentswithsportrelatedconcussionandafterclinicalrecovery
AT johnjleddy parasympatheticresponsestofacecoolinginadolescentswithsportrelatedconcussionandafterclinicalrecovery