"One in four" would not be the whole story: the chilling finding shaking the NFL
A study changed the conversation about hits in the NFL: Of the 878 former NFL players who died between 2016 and 2021, 235 donated their brains and 215 showed signs of CTE
The NFL is once again under scrutiny because of the long-term consequences that repeated blows to the head can have. A study published this Tuesday found signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in 215 of the 235 brains of former players that were donated for research.
This means that in 91.4% of the brains examined, records of brain damage caused by repeated trauma were found.
The figure that explains why the study is different
"C TE is a neurodegenerative disease associated with repeated impacts to the head. One of the aspects that most concerns specialists is that it can remain unconfirmed during a person's lifetime, since the definitive diagnosis can only be made after death.
In this case, the novelty of the work lies in the fact that it was not limited to analyzing only those who donated their brains.
The research was based on 878 former players who died between 2016 and 2021, of whom 235 donated their brains for the research, and from this it emerged that 215 showed signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
If the 215 confirmed cases were the only ones among the 878 former players, the prevalence would be 24.5%. In other words, at least one in four had died with the disease.
The study also found that the progression of the disease was related to cognitive problems. Among donors with CTE, 61.3% met the clinical criteria for dementia , and the most severe forms showed an even stronger association with that decline.
Another aspect highlighted by the work is that the hits associated with the disease can accumulate over many years. Part of that exposure occurs before players reach the NFL, even during youth and college stages.
The analysis of death certificates provided another important element. Among former players whose brains were not donated, researchers found 215 cases in which a neurodegenerative disease appeared as the cause of death. Although this data does not allow confirming that those people suffered from CTE, it does represent an indication that could point to a higher prevalence than initially estimated.
A disease that can appear years later
"CTE is related to repeated blows to the head over time. It is not an injury that is necessarily noticeable right away: its effects can appear years later and be associated with memory problems, behavioral changes, and cognitive difficulties.
In addition, there is a particularity that makes the picture even more complicated. The disease cannot be confirmed with certainty while the person is alive. To detect it, it is necessary to study the brain after death, so it is still difficult to know how many former players may have developed it.
