Does baseline concussion testing aid in identifying future concussion risk?

The purpose was to determine differences in pre-season baseline performance between student-athletes who suffered a future sport-related concussion (fSRC) and those who did not. Collegiate student-athletes (82 fSRC, 82 matched control, age = 18.4 ± 0.8years, height = 172.7 ± 10.3 cm, mass = 80.1 ± 20.9 kg) completed baseline Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT), Balance Error Scoring System (BESS), and Standardized Assessment of Concussion (SAC). Results of the independent t-tests suggested there were no differences between the fSRC and the control groups for ImPACT composite scores (95% confidence intervals, Visual Memory: fSRC 70.4–75.9, Control 73.4–78.5, p = 0.134; Verbal Memory: fSRC 83.8–87.7, Control 85.7–89.9, p = 0.155; Reaction Time: fSRC 0.562–0.591, Control 0.580–0.614, p = 0.071; Visual Motor Speed: fSRC 38.5–41.1, Control 38.2–40.9, p = 0.757), BESS total errors (fSRC 11.3–13.7, Control 11.8–14.4, p = 0.483), or SAC (fSRC 26.6–27.4, Control 26.9–27.6, p = 0.394). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) areas-under-the-curve were 0.417–0.515. Our findings suggest that baseline concussion assessments cannot be used to predict individuals who may sustain a fSRC.