Neurology > > Head Trauma– What we understand– and do not understand– about professional football and brain conditions
by Judy George, Deputy Managing Editor, MedPage Today September 27, 2024
Numerous news products today put expert football and head injury back in the spotlight.
On Monday, a research study revealed that one-third of previous National Football League (NFL) gamers thought they had persistent distressing encephalopathy (CTE).
On Tuesday, previous NFL quarterback Brett Favre exposed he has Parkinson's illness.
Favre stated 5 experts informed him they thought it was most likely due to the hits he suffered while calling signals in the NFL.
“They all stated the exact same thing,” he stated in an interview with TMZ Sports“‘If it's not in your household'– and there's none on either side of my household– ‘then the very first thing we take a look at is head injury.' Well, hell, I composed the book on head injury.”
The day after Favre's statement, previous Minnesota Vikings quarterback Tommy Kramer published on social networks that he had actually been identified with dementia.
CTE, Parkinson's-like signs, and dementia have actually been related to repetitive head hits. In conditions like Parkinson's and dementia, etiology typically is unidentified and concerns about causality can't be responded to quickly.
An abundance of proof recommends there are links in between playing American football or other contact sports– especially at the elite level– and increased threats of establishing neurodegenerative illness, particularly CTE, later on in life.
“There is a dose-response relationship in between the number of years and the level of football played and run the risk of for having CTE neuropathology, as well as for having more extreme illness,” stated scientist Michael Alosco, PhD, of the Boston University CTE.
“CTE is a neurodegenerative illness that is set off by direct exposure to repeated head effects that happen throughout activities like American football,” Alosco informed MedPage Today“It's both the frequency and the strength of head effects that are the chauffeurs of the illness.”
Historic research studies have actually connected head injury from boxing to Parkinson's-like functions later on in life, Alosco kept in mind. “This literature can be gone back to the 1920s,” he stated. “More just recently, there have actually been increasing efforts to much better comprehend whether repeated head effects from American football may affect danger for other neurological conditions besides CTE.”
A research study in 2023, for instance, revealed that taking part in American football was connected to greater chances of parkinsonism or Parkinson's illness. “Again, the association reinforced as the years and level of play increased,” Alosco explained. And a 2024 autopsy research study revealed that almost 25% of 481 departed professional athletes with CTE had parkinsonism signs before they passed away; almost all had actually played American football.
Research studies of professional soccer gamers likewise have actually connected repeated head effects to subsequent brain conditions. In Sweden, for instance, elite soccer gamers had a 46% greater danger of neurodegenerative illness like Alzheimer's and dementia compared to the basic population.
