I guess nowadays we need a study for everything. But anyone 50 YO or older knows all about Boxers being 'punch drunk'. The whole idea of boxing is to give the opponent a concussion. Enough concussions and you become 'punch drunk'.. If you play football long enough, even without a study' CTE or punch drunk is a given.
Study: CTE diagnosed in 99% of former NFL players, 87% of ex-players at all levels..
The degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) has been diagnosed in 110 of 111 former NFL players whose brains were donated for research, according to an updated study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association on Tuesday.
In total, CTE was diagnosed in 87% of 202 former football players --- including high school, college, NFL, Canadian Football League and semipro. The study, the largest conducted into the potential link of brain trauma in football and CTE, was led by researchers at Boston University and the VA Boston Healthcare System.
"This is just a tremendous resource for research," Boston University neuropathologist Ann McKee, a co-author on the study, said in an interview with USA TODAY Sports.
"All this tissue was very generously donated. But it's not just sitting in a vault. It can be used by researchers to detect the disease, and to help find the disease during a person's life," McKee said.
The authors of the study wrote in their report: “The findings suggest that CTE may be related to prior participation in football, and that a high level of play may be related to substantial disease burden."
Tuesday’s study also found the following:
- The most common cause of death (27%) among those with mild stages of CTE (stages 1-2) was suicide. McKee had said previously that Hall of Fame linebacker Junior Seau, who took his own life in 2012, had “at least Stage 2.”
- A neurodegenerative-related cause of death -- including those symptoms that are most commonly attributed to dementia and Parkinson’s disease -- was the leading cause of death (47%) of former players studied who had more severe CTE pathologies (Stages 3-4).
- Among 27 participants found to have a mild CTE pathology, 26 had behavioral or mood issues before their deaths. Of the 84 deceased players with more severe cases of CTE, 89% had behavioral or mood symptoms.
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Study: CTE diagnosed in 99% of former NFL players, 87% of ex-players at all levels | KiiiTV.com
