The link between chronic traumatic encephalopathy and American football is confirmed, according to the results of a study published in the medical journal Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) has been diagnosed post-mortem in a high proportion of former soccer players whose brains have been donated for research. This disease is a progressive neurodegeneration associated with head trauma repetitive.
Researchers from the Boston Center and VA Boston Healthcare System in the United States analyzed the brain tissue of 202 former American football players who played professionally in high school, university or as semi-professionals to assess the risks of this sport than brain health.
They diagnosed traumatic encephalopathy in 177 of them, or 87% of the study group. Their median age was 66 at the time of their death and they had played the sport for an average of fifteen years.
Among them were 111 former professional players of the National Football League (NFL), the American professional league. This cerebral pathology was observed in the majority (110) of them.
Traumatic encephalopathy and dementia
Of the 27 participants with mild ETC pathology, 96% had behavioral symptoms or mood disorders or both, 85% had cognitive impairment, and 33% had signs of dementia. Of the 84 participants with severe CTE, 89% had behavioral or mood symptoms or both, 95% had cognitive disordersand 85% had signs of dementia.
“In a representative sample of deceased soccer players who donated their brains for research, a high proportion had neuropathological signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, suggesting that it may be related to the sport,” conclude the authors of the study.
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