Search

Objective: Professional jockeys experience high rates of concussion, workplace stress, and poor mental health. The present cross-sectional study, for the first time, concurrently assessed the potential interplay between concussion history and workplace stress with current depression symptoms., Method: Seventy-two professional flat-track jockeys (male = 49, female = 23) were grouped based on self-reported concussion history (CG; n = 56) and those who did not report a concussion history (NCG; total n = 16). Analyses featured both between (CG vs NCG) and within group (CG only) assessment on self-reported measures of workplace stress and depression symptoms (affect, daily functioning)., Results: Jockeys in the CG had more symptoms of negative affect than the NCG. This association, however, was nonsignificant after covarying for age, gender, and workplace stress. Higher workplace stress (p = .005) and gender (p = .001) were associated with poorer daily functioning after controlling for concussion history (CG vs. NCG) and age. Gender moderated the association between concussion group and poorer daily functioning (β = -18.739, t (71) = -2.924, p = .005), with the difference between CG and NCG significant for females, but not males (β = 33.648, t (71) = 3.420, p = .001)., Conclusions: The findings provide preliminary evidence that previously concussed females may be more likely to report poorer daily functioning than males with a history of concussion, and that workplace stress may reduce the association between a history of concussion and depression symptoms. Prospective studies are required to validate and extend these findings., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permission@oup.com.)

Objective: Jockeys have high rates of concussion, with 5% of jockeys receiving at least one concussion annually. The impact of acute concussion upon cognition is well understood, but less is known about the long-term effects of concussion upon cognition. Our aim was to assess the impact of concussion upon jockeys who had provided pre-concussion assessments of cognition using a prospective design., Method: In this study, over a 5-year period, we assessed the cognitive performance of jockeys with ≥1 medically diagnosed concussion (MDC; n = 17, months since concussion, M = 29.18), against those who had not been concussed (NC; n = 41). Jockeys who had not been concussed in the preceding 6 months completed four computer-based cognitive assessments from the CogSport battery., Results: Unlike the majority of the small existing literature, there was no difference (p ≥ .05) between the MDC and NC groups after controlling for age and baseline performance. Additionally, we used a measure of reliable change to assess for clinically meaningful decrements from baseline in each test and composite score 5 years later. None of the jockeys in the MDC group recorded significant decrements on any CogSport measure from baseline (z > -1.65)., Conclusions: The findings suggest that the presence of concussion does not result in persistent decrements in cognitive performance and that when findings are considered collectively, assessing factors beyond medically diagnosed concussion (e.g., chronic stress, undiagnosed concussion) may improve the interpretation of our current findings., (© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)