509 MEP046 – How impact monitoring mouthguards and blood biomarkers can be used to monitor athletes’ brain health: a case study with Muay Thai athletes

AbstractBackground Blood biomarkers exhibit promising potential for monitoring brain injuries. Nevertheless, there exists a dearth of understanding concerning the influence of various impact characteristics on these blood biomarkers. Acquiring such knowledge is imperative for the enhanced surveillance of athletes' brain health.Objective To investigate the relationship between head impact characteristics and the levels of blood biomarkers associated with brain injury as neurofilament light (NfL) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP).Design Observational Case-Study.Setting Muay Thai training and competition facilities.Participants Four Swedish elite amateur Muay Thai athletes (age 33±4 years, body weight 66±6 kg, women n=3, men n=1).Interventions Over a span of eight weeks, we gathered data on head impact parameters using impact-monitoring mouthguards during both sparring sessions and competitive matches. Additionally, blood capillary plasma samples for neurofilament light (NfL) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) were acquired via fingerstick every second week.Main Outcome Measurements Peak scalar linear acceleration (PLA), peak scalar linear velocity (PLV), peak scalar angular acceleration (PAA), peak scalar angular velocity (PAV), impact workload, impact location, number of impacts, blood capillary plasma levels of neurofilament light (NfL) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP).Results In total, 1223 impacts were registered, during 28 sessions. Complete descriptives of head impact characteristics are presented in table 1.On a group level, mean GFAP levels were negatively associated with the mean number of head impacts per session. On an individual level, two athletes had significant correlations between head impact characteristics and the levels of NfL and/or GFAP, see figure 1.Conclusions The results suggest that NfL and GFAP might respond differently to linear and rotational accelerations and/or that the effects of different types of accelerations are individual. Future studies are recommended to combine impact monitoring mouthguards and blood biomarkers better understand how head impact characteristics affect head injuries.View this table:View inline View popup Abstract 509 Table 1 Descriptives of all collected impactsDownload figure Open in new tab Download powerpoint Abstract 509 Figure 1 Scatterplots with regression lines for the six cases with significant correlations. GFAP = glial fibrillary acidic protein