EVALUATION OF HEAD TRAUMA ON PITUITARY FUNCTION IN PROFESSIONAL SOCCER PLAYERS

Introduction: Concussion represents a serious problem in contact sports in professional adult athletes. The hypothesis of this study is to investigate the effects of head traumas on pituitary hormone values by examining the values of pituitary hormones in soccer players with previous head injury. Secondly to evaluate if frequent headshots may also play a role. Materials and methods: A total of 47 professional soccer players (SP) , and 32 individuals who do not play sports professionally with no history of head injury (CG) participated in the study. After completing the informed consent forms, soccer history, head trauma, concussion questioning were applied to the athletes with the HeadCount-12 Month Questionnaire adapted by Lipton et al. (2013) to determine the number of headshots of each soccer players during the last 12 months. Results: When we compare the averages of SP and CG biochemical and hormonal parameters, there were significant differences in cortisol and prolactin levels (p 0.05). No significant difference was found in any other parameter (p 0.05). Conclusions: Pituitary function is preserved in professional soccer players. Previous head trauma and frequent headshots do not seem to have a role in pituitary dysfunction.