A study recently published in the Journal of American Medicine details disturbing results from neurological analyses of 202 deceased football players’ brains. In their lifetimes, these players had reached different levels of football—high school (two players), college (53), semi-pro (14), the Canadian Football League (8) and the NFL (111). The study—titled “Clinicopathological Evaluation of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in Players of American Football” and led by three Boston University medical doctors—evaluated the presence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative neurological disease caused by repeat head trauma and only diagnosable with certainty in post-mortem examinations. While the scientific community’s understanding of CTE is evolving, common symptoms include aggression, depression, memory loss and an increased risk of suicide.
Will New CTE Findings Doom the NFL Concussion Settlement?
