Table_4_Progress and Future Directions of the NCAA-DoD Concussion Assessment, Research, and Education (CARE) Consortium and Mind Matters Challenge at the US Service Academies.docx

Despite the significant impact that concussion has on military service members, significant gaps remain in our understanding of the optimal diagnostic, management, and return to activity/duty criteria to mitigate the consequences of concussion. In response to these significant knowledge gaps, the US Department of Defense (DoD) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) partnered to form the NCAA-DoD Grand Alliance in 2014. The NCAA-DoD CARE Consortium was established with the aim of creating a national multisite research network to study the clinical and neurobiological natural history of concussion in NCAA athletes and military Service Academy cadets and midshipmen. In addition to the data collected for the larger CARE Consortium effort, the service academies have pursued military-specific lines of research relevant to operational and medical readiness associated with concussion. The purpose of this article is to describe the structure of the NCAA-DoD Grand Alliance efforts at the service academies, as well as discuss military-specific research objectives and provide an overview of progress to date. A secondary objective is to discuss the challenges associated with conducting large-scale studies in the Service Academy environment and highlight future directions for concussion research endeavors across the CARE Service Academy sites.

尽管脑震荡(concussion)对美军服役人员造成了显著影响，但当前我们在明确最优诊断、管理及恢复活动/职责标准以减轻脑震荡后果方面，仍存在大量认知空白。为填补这些重大知识缺口，美国国防部(DoD)与美国全国大学体育协会(NCAA)于2014年合作组建了NCAA-DoD大联盟(Grand Alliance)。NCAA-DoD CARE联盟(CARE Consortium)正式成立，旨在打造全国性多站点研究网络，以研究美国全国大学体育协会运动员及军事服务学院学员与候补军官学员的脑震荡临床与神经生物学自然病程。除为大型CARE联盟研究项目收集数据外，各军事服务学院还开展了与脑震荡相关的作战与医疗战备相关的军事专属研究方向。本文旨在阐述军事服务学院层面的NCAA-DoD大联盟研究工作架构，讨论军事专属研究目标，并概述迄今取得的研究进展。本文的次要目标为探讨在军事服务学院环境中开展大规模研究面临的挑战，并梳理CARE联盟军事服务学院各站点脑震荡研究的未来发展方向。