Influence of Anxiety on Baseline Cognitive Testing and Symptom Reporting in Adolescent Student Athletes

Anxiety symptoms are commonly endorsed by student athletes. This study examined the possible influence of anxiety on baseline cognitive testing and symptom reporting in a large sample of adolescent student athletes. Participants were 37,945 adolescent student athletes from the state of Maine who completed baseline testing using ImPACT®. ImPACT includes an evaluation of cognitive functioning and a questionnaire assessing the presence and severity of common post-concussion symptoms. Participants were divided into high and low anxiety groups based on endorsement of anxiety-like symptoms. Student athletes in the high anxiety group were more likely to be girls and to have a greater lifetime history of treatment for mental health problems and headaches (ps < 0.001). The high anxiety group scored slightly lower on cognitive tests (Cohen ds = 0.15–0.26) and reported a much greater amount of baseline pre-season symptoms (Cohen d = 3.38). More than eight of 10 youth in the high anxiety group (82.7%) met International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems–10th Revision (ICD-10) symptom criteria for at least a mild form of the postconcussional syndrome compared with less than two of 10 (18.4%) in the low anxiety group. Students in the high anxiety group had slightly lower scores on neurocognitive testing, but the differences were not practically meaningful; however, they endorsed dramatically more physical, cognitive, and emotional symptoms. Anxiety can mimic the ICD-10 postconcussional syndrome in adolescent student athletes at baseline, when they have not been injured.