Table 1.
Frequency (%) of Self-Reported Concerns Regarding Cognitive Function in 3758 Former Professional American-Style Football Players Captured with 11 Questions from the Quality of Life in Neurological Disorders (Neuro-QOL) Item Bank v1.0 for Applied Cognition: General Concernsa
| Item | Never | Rarely (once) | Sometimes (2–3 times) | Often (about once a day) | Very often (several times a day) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| In the past 7 days, | |||||
| 1. I had to read something several times to understand it. | 806 (21.5) | 1092 (29.1) | 1,057 (28.1) | 405 (10.8) | 397 (10.6) |
| 2. I had trouble keeping track of what I was doing if I was interrupted. | 873 (23.2) | 975 (26.0) | 1,022 (27.2) | 475 (12.6) | 412 (11.0) |
| 3. I had difficulty doing more than one thing at a time. | 1036 (27.7) | 996 (26.6) | 891 (23.8) | 432 (11.5) | 392 (10.5) |
| 4. I had trouble remembering new information, like phone numbers or simple instructions. | 894 (23.8) | 944 (25.1) | 916 (24.4) | 509 (13.6) | 494 (13.2) |
| 5. I had trouble thinking clearly. | 1144 (30.5) | 1054 (28.1) | 830 (22.1) | 412 (11.0) | 316 (8.4) |
| 6. My thinking was slow. | 1142 (30.6) | 1031 (27.6) | 832 (22.3) | 434 (11.6) | 296 (7.9) |
| 7. I had to work really hard to pay attention or I would make a mistake. | 1197 (32.0) | 999 (26.7) | 782 (20.9) | 423 (11.3) | 346 (9.2) |
| 8. I had trouble concentrating. | 987 (26.4) | 986 (26.4) | 905 (24.2) | 453 (12.1) | 409 (10.9) |
| 9. I had trouble remembering whether I did things I was supposed to do. | 953 (25.4) | 991 (26.4) | 924 (24.7) | 492 (13.1) | 388 (10.4) |
| 10. I had trouble making decisions. | 1334 (35.7) | 1046 (28.0) | 762 (20.4) | 328 (8.8) | 266 (7.1) |
| 11. I had trouble planning out steps of a task. | 1443 (38.7) | 1007 (27.0) | 717 (19.2) | 332 (8.9) | 234 (6.3) |
a
Twenty-one out of 3779 participants provided valid responses for <8 out of 11 Neuro-QOL items and were not included in the analysis. Total values of <3758 for a question indicate missing responses.