byUniversity of Michigan

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New research investigating health outcomes in NCAA athletes during their first year after leaving college sports found that some health measures were worse than expected, but others actually improved.

The results varied depending on the athletes' history of contact exposure and the number of years they played their sport.

"In athletes that are ending their collegiate careers, those with more concussions reported worse outcomes on certainhealth measures," said Reid Syrydiuk, first author on the study and a doctoral candidate in kinesiology studying at the University of Michigan Concussion Center.

"Interestingly, those participating in a higher contact sport reported better mental and symptom health scores than those in noncontact sports. Further, those with increased number of years playing their primary sport reported better mental health scores."

The findings counter the narrative associatingconcussionwith mental health deficits, and suggest that the benefits derived from the team environments seen with contact sports may be somewhat protective, he said.

The study, whichappearsin the journalBrain Injury, is also novel in that it explores a period that hasn't been studied much: the time when students are transitioning out of college sport.

Most studies on concussions and health fall into one of two categories: acute (hours or days post-injury) or long term (decades into retirement.) This focus leaves a significant gap in understanding the health of athletes as they undergo the massive life change of exiting competitive sport.

To that end, researchers analyzed health questionnaires completed within one year of leaving college by 3,663student-athletesin the NCAA-DoD Concussion Assessment, Research and Education (CARE) Consortium, to assess how concussion history, sport contact exposure and years of participation were associated with their health at the end of their collegiate career, an intermediate time period that has not been studied much.

Athletes completed eight self-reported health questionnaires spanning factors including cognition, mental health, physical health and neurobehavioral health. Key findings:

"If I consider why these contact sport athletes report better scores on certain outcomes, I think it could be related to the large-team environments they experience," Syrydiuk said.

The CARE Consortium is a national concussion research network of NCAA athletes and U.S. military service academy cadets across 30 different institutions. Steven Broglio, director of the Michigan Concussion Center and U-M professor of kinesiology, is a principal investigator on the CARE study.

An important practical application is identifying groups that could benefit from early intervention and support as they leave their college athletics, Syrydiuk said.

"This time period is important because it hasn't typically been used before in this type of sports medicine research," he said. "It both bridges a gap in literature, which is typically studying concussions in the acute and the long term, and it fosters early support for those leaving sport."

Practical applications could include increased monitoring, such as follow-up mental health screenings for identified at-risk groups postgraduation or targeted resources, such as offering access to counseling or tailored transition support programs for those with significant concussion history.

"For the majority of these collegiate athletes, their competitive careers end with graduation," Syrydiuk said. "That's a very big change in their lives. We don't want to just ignore them after they've left sport.

"If we can identify groups that are more at risk as they're leaving sport versus decades after they've retired, we can intervene earlier and hopefully increase the likelihood of improving their self-reported health. By identifying who needs support as they transition out of sport, we have a better chance of preventing their health from worsening over time."

Other co-authors are: Adrian Boltz of U-M; Jaroslaw Harezlak, Chengyun Li, Thomas McAllister, Kelly Mosesso, Susan Perkins and Jie Ren of Indiana University; Allyssa Memmini of the University of New Mexico; Paul Pasquina of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences; Landon Lempke of Virginia Commonwealth University; and Michael McCrea of the Medical College of Wisconsin.

More information: Reid A. Syrydiuk et al, The cumulative effects of a collegiate athletic career on general health measures: findings from the CARE Consortium, Brain Injury (2025). DOI: 10.1080/02699052.2025.2559986 Journal information: Brain Injury

Provided by University of Michigan