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posted by martyb on Wednesday July 26 2017, @01:45PM   Printer-friendly
from the getting-your-head-whacked-is-bad-for-you dept.

Ninety-nine percent of ailing NFL player brains sport hallmarks of neurodegenerative disease, autopsy study finds

The largest study of its kind has found damage in the vast majority of former football players' brains donated for research after they developed mental symptoms during life. Of 202 former players of the U.S. version of the game whose brains were examined, 87% showed the diagnostic signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a neurodegenerative disease associated with repetitive head trauma. Among former National Football League (NFL) players in the sample, that number jumped to 99%. The findings will likely ratchet up the pressure on leaders at all levels of football to protect their players. Still, the authors and other experts caution against overinterpreting the results, because the brains all came from symptomatic former players and not from those who remained free of mental problems.

"I think it is increasingly difficult to deny a link between CTE and repeated traumatic brain injury, be it through contact sports or other mechanisms," says Gil Rabinovici, a neurologist at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), who was not affiliated with the study.

The researchers, led by Boston University (BU) neuropathologist Ann McKee, used brains from a bank maintained by the VA Boston Healthcare System, BU, and the Concussion Legacy Foundation. They were donated by families of former football players. The team defines CTE, a diagnosis made only at autopsy, as "progressive degeneration associated with repetitive head trauma." The designation remains controversial with some, who call it a muddy diagnosis that doesn't include an iron-clad clinical course and the kind of clear-cut pathology that defines classical neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's or Alzheimer's disease.

Clinicopathological Evaluation of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in Players of American Football (open, DOI: 10.1001/jama.2017.8334) (DX)


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Fnord666 on Wednesday July 26 2017, @03:25PM (2 children)

    by Fnord666 (652) on Wednesday July 26 2017, @03:25PM (#544671) Homepage
    So the brains of former football players who were showing signs of degenerative neurological disease while alive are found to indeed show signs of degenerative neurological disease when examined posthumously. Shocking.

    The bank of 202 former football players’ brains is a “convenience sample,” meaning it’s a biased sampling not representative of football players overall. Instead, players and their families donated the brains after players experienced symptoms connected with CTE during life or the players were suspected or considered at risk of developing CTE. The athletes represented in the sample reported much higher rates of CTE symptoms in life than those found in surveys of living, retired National Football League (NFL) players. Also, the study only had pathology data from one time point—after death—so progression of the disease couldn’t be examined. And, last, the study did not include a sampling of brains from people who were not exposed to football—a control group.

    Overall, the study doesn’t tell us much about possible prevalence of CTE among football players, the absolute risk that people have of developing the disease, or the elevated relative risk that football players may have compared with non-football players.

    Source: ArsTechnica [arstechnica.com]

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  • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Wednesday July 26 2017, @04:23PM

    by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Wednesday July 26 2017, @04:23PM (#544707) Homepage Journal

    True, but it does indicate that more study is badly needed,

    --
    mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
  • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 26 2017, @09:40PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 26 2017, @09:40PM (#544874)

    So the brains of former football players who were showing signs of degenerative neurological disease while alive are found to indeed show signs of degenerative neurological disease when examined posthumously. Shocking.

    So the bodies of former base jumpers who were showing signs of head fractures while alive are found to indeed show signs of head fractures when examined posthumously.

    But yeah. I'm not convinced the likelihood was demonstrated. What we need is a controlled study where 1000 volunteers will be split to a test and control group. One group would be tossed off the roof while the other doesn't. Then, we'll kill them all - or anyone left alive that is - and perform an autopsy.

    It's the only way to make sure.