1 year test-retest reliability of ImPACT in professional ice hockey players

Abstract

The Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT) battery is widely used to assess neurocognitive outcomes following sports-related concussion. The purpose of this study was to examine the 1 year test-retest reliability of ImPACT in a multilingual sample of professional hockey players. A total of 305 professional hockey players were tested 1 year apart using ImPACT. Reliable change confidence intervals were calculated and test-retest reliability was measured using Pearson and Intraclass correlation coefficients. Results indicated that the 1-year test-retest reliabilities for the Visual Motor and Reaction Time Composites ranged from low to high (.52 to .81). In contrast, 1-year test-retest reliabilities for the Verbal and Visual Memory Composites were low (.22 to .58). The 1-year test-retest results provided mixed support for the use of Visual Motor and Reaction Time Composites in select samples; in contrast, the Verbal and Visual Memory Composites may not be sensitive to clinical change.