The Impact of Concussion, Sport, and Time in Season on Saliva Telomere Length in Healthy Athletes

Frontiers in Sports and Active Living

Matthew Machan¹  Meng Wang¹  Richelle Mychasiuk²  Jason B. Tabor³  Chantel T. Debert³  Bonnie Sutter³  J. Preston Wiley⁴ 

[1] Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada;Department of Neuroscience, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia;Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada;University of Calgary Sport Medicine Centre, Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada;

关键词: sport-related concussion;    athletes;    fluid biomarkers;    saliva;    telomere length;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fspor.2022.816607

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

To date, sport-related concussion diagnosis and management is primarily based on subjective clinical tests in the absence of validated biomarkers. A major obstacle to clinical validation and application is a lack of studies exploring potential biomarkers in non-injured populations. This cross-sectional study examined the associations between saliva telomere length (TL) and multiple confounding variables in a healthy university athlete population. One hundred eighty-three (108 male and 75 female) uninjured varsity athletes were recruited to the study and provided saliva samples at either pre- or mid-season, for TL analysis. Multiple linear regression was used to determine the associations between saliva TL and history of concussion, sport contact type, time in season (pre vs. mid-season collection), age, and sex. Results showed no significant associations between TL and history of concussion, age, or sport contact type. However, TL from samples collected mid-season were longer than those collected pre-season [β = 231.4, 95% CI (61.9, 401.0), p = 0.008], and males had longer TL than females [β = 284.8, 95% CI (111.5, 458.2), p = 0.001] when adjusting for all other variables in the model. These findings population suggest that multiple variables may influence TL. Future studies should consider these confounders when evaluating saliva TL as a plausible fluid biomarker for SRC.

【 授权许可】

Unknown