(TND) — Researchers have found a degenerative disease associated with repetitive head trauma in over 90% of the brains of former NFL players they have studied.
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy was diagnosed in the brains of 345 of the 376 former NFL players examined by the Boston University CTE Center.
CTE symptoms, which may not appear until years after a playing career is over, include memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, impulse control problems, aggression, depression, and eventually progressive dementia.
Dr. Ann McKee, director of the BU CTE Center and chief of neuropathology at VA Boston Healthcare System, said this week’s release is an update from the numbers they published in 2017.
At that time, they had found CTE in 110 of 111 former NFL players’ brains.
CTE can only be definitively diagnosed after death.
This doesn't reflect the true prevalence of CTE in the active NFL population, McKee said. This analysis comes from a brain bank selection, where families ask for examinations of the brains, so there is selection bias.
“Still strikingly high percentage of players with CTE,” McKee said.
The analysis of former NFL players’ brains began in 2008, she said.
And this isn’t just a problem for NFL players.
McKee said their research shows a person doubles their risk of CTE for every 2.6 years of football at any level, including high school.
“CTE remains a problem,” she said. “It's a problem not just for professional athletes, but it remains a problem for amateur athletes playing some of these collision and contact sports.”
The NFL is increasingly focused on player safety, which includes advancements in helmet technology.
But McKee said players don’t have to suffer massive hits or concussions in order to develop CTE.
Those repetitive, “garden variety” hits to the head can cause damage.
“There really hasn't been a lot of substantial progress on how to prevent this disease in NFL players,” she said. “This is an entirely preventable disease, but it is going to take some rule changes, some practice changes, in order to lower the risk that these players are facing.”
Hits, of course, are a core part of football.
But McKee said efforts could be made to limit the number of hits a player takes and to better monitor players.
And, because the hits accumulate over time, we could raise the starting age for playing football.
While doctors can’t diagnose CTE during life right now, they are getting much closer. And they do have criteria they can use to develop a suspicion that a person has CTE.
“I'm very hopeful, I'm very optimistic about our ability to diagnose this disease during life using blood biomarkers, advanced scanning, or MRI techniques, PET scans, or even spinal fluid analysis,” McKee said.
“Once that happens, that will change everything,” she added.
Being able to diagnose CTE in living people can allow them to develop new therapies to attack the disease, very similar to the recent advancements in Alzheimer's.
For now, though, McKee said there are effective treatments for the symptoms of CTE.
“It's really important that people that are suffering from these symptoms reach out,” she said.
