Study: 75% of Deceased NFL Players Suffered From CTE
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Affects Three Quarters of Deceased NFL Players
It’s hard to know what the guys who built the game have been through,
said Matt Hasselbeck, an 18-year NFL veteran serving as an ambassador for a landmark study published in JAMA Network Open.
Up to three in every four NFL players who died over a recent 15-year span suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease linked to repetitive head impacts. Researchers estimate that 75 percent of professional football players who died between 2008 and 2023 had CTE affecting their brains, according to findings covered by HealthDay News.
Evaluating the Scope of Brain Damage in Professional Football
By comparison, CTE appears in less than one percent of the general population who donate their brains to science. Julia Gallini, a doctoral candidate at the Boston University School of Public Health and lead researcher on the project, stated that the widespread presence of the disease among former players is troubling and indicates a clear need to bolster family support, diagnose the condition during life, and treat related symptoms.
Because CTE can only be definitively diagnosed after death, the investigative team analyzed 387 brains from former NFL players, discovering that 94 percent showed some level of neural damage associated with the disease. However, individuals experiencing cognitive issues are roughly five times more likely to donate their brains for post-mortem examination than unaffected players, prompting researchers to examine death records of 2,362 league players who died between 2008 and 2023 to gain a clearer baseline.
Extrapolating Data From Death Records
The research team focused specifically on players who died from degenerative brain illnesses or exhibited dementia at the time of death. Dr. Rosanna Sabini, medical director of the Concussion Program at Northwell Health in New York, noted that the investigators utilized dementia-related causes of death to extrapolate potential manifestations of CTE symptoms.
I’m looking at this like it’s a scouting report,
Hasselbeck said in a Boston University press release cited in the reporting. Now that we know what we’re facing, we have a better chance to win. I can’t undo the hits that I took, but I can sign up for research and do everything that I can to help the scientists so that they can find a cure in my life.
While not every player with CTE develops outward symptoms, those who do typically encounter cognitive decline, behavioral shifts, mood alterations, and dementia. Prior studies indicate that NFL players develop dementia at a rate four times higher than the general population.
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