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Researchers found one-in-four NFL players who died between 2016 and 2021 had CTE
A new study has found that “at least” one-in-four NFL players will develop the degenerative brain disease known as C.T.E. Researchers said the actual prevalence may be much higher.
A new study published in the British Medical Journal found that at least one in four former NFL players who died between 2016 and 2021 had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
CTE is a degenerative brain disease caused by repeated head trauma that can only be definitively diagnosed after death through brain tissue examination, with symptoms in living patients including memory loss, depression, impulsivity, and dementia. At this time, there is no treatment for CTE and no way to diagnose it in a living person.
A new study has found that at least one in four former NFL players who died between 2016 and 2021 had CTE
The study, which was conducted by researchers at Mass General Brigham, Boston University and the Concussion & CTE Foundation, examined the brains of 235 of the 878 former NFL players who died between 2016 and 2021.
Of those 235 examined brains, at least 215 (24.5%) showed evidence of CTE. The lead author, Dr. Daniel Daneshvar of Harvard Medical School, described the minimum figure as likely on the “low end” because the roughly 25 percent rate does not consider the 643 brains (878 – 235 = 643) that were not examined.
Researchers said the theoretical ceiling could be as high as 97% when assuming the worst-case scenario that all 643 unexamined brains also had CTE, with only the 20 confirmed-clean brains being CTE-free. Dr. Dasneshvar said the actual number is “somewhere in the middle” between 25% and 97%.
Among the 338 former NFL players who donated their brains for neuropathological evaluation, 315 — or 93.2 percent — were diagnosed with CTE. Late NFL players such as Junior Seau, Aaron Hernandez, Demaryius Thomas, and Vincent Jackson were confirmed to have suffered from CTE following their deaths.
The study specifically examined players who died before the widespread adoption of soft-shell helmet additions that can reduce impact severity — a variable that researchers said may mean the findings don’t fully represent the current state of the NFL’s long-term risk.
“Dr. Daneshvar said that the biggest predictor of C.T.E. is the cumulative force of hits to a head over a lifetime — including those sustained before reaching the N.F.L. ‘We can change that cumulative force without changing the game of football,’ he said, suggesting that children refrain from playing tackle football and that teams at all levels eliminate hits during practices.” [via The Athletic]
The NFL has made an effort to curb head injuries over the last decade or so through measures such as tweaking the rules and the recent introduction of “Guardian caps,” which are additional protective padding that’s fitted onto a player’s helmet.