Memory loss, depression and aggression: Contact sports increasingly linked to brain degeneration

At least a quarter of former NFL players who died between 2016 and 2021 may have had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, and the proportion could be far higher, according to a U.S. study published in late August in the British Medical Journal.

The study counted 878 former players who died during the period. Of those, 235 donated their brains for research, and 215 were found to have chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. That represents 24.5% of all players who died during the period if applied directly to the full group, while an extrapolation cited by the article could raise the figure to 97.7%.

The findings concern a neurodegenerative disease associated in the article with repeated impacts to the head. Protective equipment, including helmets worn by American football players, does not prevent the brain from being damaged by repeated blows, even when those impacts are of low intensity.

The Harvard University researchers said that dementia diagnosed from medical records before death was common among the players who donated their brains and was associated with stage IV CTE. The article also points to symptoms including memory loss, depression and aggression, and describes CTE as a disease recognized only relatively late. The report is truncated behind a subscription notice.

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Among NFL players who donated their brains, dementia diagnosed on the basis of medical records before death was common and associated with stage IV CTE.