Objectives: The present study examined the relative contribution of recent or long-term heading to neuropsychological function in amateur adult soccer players. Participants and Methods: Soccer players completed a baseline questionnaire (HeadCount-12m) to ascertain heading during the prior 12 months (long-term heading, LTH) and an online questionnaire (HeadCount-2w) every 3 months to ascertain heading during the prior 2 weeks (recent heading, RH). Cogstate, a battery of six neuropsychological tests, was administered to assess neuropsychological function. Generalized estimating equations were used to test if LTH or RH was associated with neuropsychological function while accounting for the role of recognized concussion. Results: A total of 311 soccer players completed 630 HeadCount-2w. Participants had an average age of 26 years. Participants headed the ball a median of 611 times/year (mean=1,384.03) and 9.50 times/2 weeks (mean=34.17). High levels of RH were significantly associated with reduced performance on a task of psychomotor speed (p=.02), while high levels of LTH were significantly associated with poorer performance on tasks of verbal learning (p=.03) and verbal memory (p=.04). Significantly better attention (p=.02) was detectable at moderately high levels of RH, but not at the highest level of RH. One hundred and seven (34.4%) participants reported a lifetime history of concussion, but this was not related to neuropsychological function and did not modify the association of RH or LTH with neuropsychological function. Conclusion: High levels of both RH and LTH were associated with poorer neuropsychological function, but on different domains. The clinical manifestations following repetitive exposure to heading could change with chronicity of exposure. (JINS, 2018, 24, 147–155)

Robust comparative and diagnostic norms for the elderly are provided for the Selective Reminding Test (Buschke, 1973). Correcting for factors such as age and education level are appropriate for comparative norms, which are intended for ranking individuals with respect to their age and education matched peers. However, because age and education are both risk factors for dementia, correcting for these factors decreases test sensitivity for detecting dementia. Age- and education-corrected Selective Reminding scores have a sensitivity for detecting dementia that is 28% lower than uncorrected scores. Using information about age in combination with memory scores provided optimal discrimination of dementia. It is concluded that statistically removing the contribution of dementia risk factors from memory test scores can severely decrease discriminative validity for detecting dementia in the elderly. (JINS, 1997, 3, 317–326.)