An exploratory study on preseason event related potentials in female adolescent rugby athletes: do symptoms and concussion history matter?

Female rugby is a collision sport involving contact events such as tackling, rucking, and scrumming, elevating the risk of sport-related concussion (SRC) and repetitive head acceleration events (rHAEs) in female adolescent athletes. Event-related potentials (ERPs) are neurophysiological markers, which can reflect SRC and rHAEs, however, preseason benchmark ERP characteristics in female adolescent rugby players remain poorly understood, particularly regarding age, concussion history, and Sport Concussion Assessment Tool (SCAT) outcomes. The primary aim was to examine associations between SCAT symptom severity score and ERP outcomes (N100, P300, N400 amplitude and latency) at preseason benchmark. The analyses of symptom number, subdomains, age, concussion history, and days since concussion were exploratory and uncorrected for multiple comparisons. Female adolescent rugby players (ages 15-18) from the 2025 Calgary high school spring season completed preseason ERP assessment. Symptom severity score was not significantly associated with any ERP outcome. In exploratory analyses, each one-unit increase in symptom number was associated with a 1.97 ms decrease in P300 latency (95% CI: -3.86, -0.09; p = 0.041). No significant associations were observed with N400 outcomes. Given the small sample size and lack of correction for multiple comparisons in exploratory analyses, these findings should be interpreted as preliminary and hypothesis-generating. Preseason P300 measures show exploratory associations with symptom burden in female adolescent rugby players. Establishing these benchmark characteristics is critical for interpreting post-concussion and post-season ERP changes in this high-risk population.