1. ImPACT Test-Retest Reliability in Young Athletes
Rosemarie Scolaro Moser PhD1, Kelly Kollias PsyD1, Emily Grossner MS1,2, Philip Schatz1,2 1Sports Concussion Center of New Jersey, Lawrenceville NJ 2Saint Josephs University, Department of Psychology, Philadelphia PA
Purpose: How often very young athletes should undergo baseline neurocognitive testing remains an unanswered question. In this regard, we sought to examine the test-retest reliability of annual ImPACT data in a sample of year old athletes.
Method: Participants were culled from a database of year old athletes who had completed baseline neurocognitive evaluations. The resultant sample included 32 athletes, ages at the time of the first assessment (Mean=11.4, S.D.=0.7), who completed two consecutive annual baseline evaluations using the online version of ImPACT. Athlete assent and parental consent were obtained for all participants. Assessments were conducted either individually or in groups of 2 to 3 athletes, under the supervision of a neuropsychologist or post-doctoral fellow.
Results: Pearson’s test-retest coefficients were as follows: Verbal Memory .71, Visual Memory .39, Visual Motor Speed .77, Reaction Time Intra-class Correlation Coefficents (single/average) were as follows: Verbal Memory .71/.83, Visual Memory .37/.56, Visual Motor Speed .75/.86, Reaction Time .36/.53. Regression–based measures revealed that only a small percentage of cases showed significant change across assessments, with 0-9% of cases falling outside 90% confidence intervals and 0-3% of cases falling outside 95% confidence intervals.
Conclusions: Test-retest reliability of Verbal Memory and Visual Motor Speed are generally stable in year old athletes. Visual Memory and Reaction Time Index scores appear to be less reliable over time, especially compared to published data on high school athletes, suggesting the utility of re-testing on an annual basis in this younger age group.
Demographics
Males 84%
Females 16%
Age (±0.7; range 10-12)
Time Between Assessments (in days):
Baseline T1 & T2: 364 (±8 days)
ImPACT Test-Retest Data
Composite Score T1 Mean(SD) T2 Mean(SD) r ICC t sig t RBz:90% 95%CI
Verbal Memory (9.7) (8.5) / % 0%
Visual Memory (8.5) (10.8) / % 3%
Motor Speed (3.7) (4.7) / % 3%
Reaction Time (.09) (.09) / % 3% ICC: Single and Average; RBz: % of cases falling beyond 90% and 95% Confidence Intervals