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One in Three Pro Football Players Think They Have Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy
The staggering data comes from a new study in JAMA Neurology
When I first learned about chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in medical school, it was in the context of professional boxers. Repeated blows to the head, we were taught, could lead to a neurological syndrome — colloquially “punch drunk syndrome” — formally dementia pugilistica that was essentially impossible to treat.
But I bet if I say CTE today, you don’t think of boxers. No, especially at this time of year, I imagine your brain goes to one place.
Football.
The first reports of CTE in a football player occurred in 2002, when all-star Mike Webster of the Steelers and Chiefs died of a heart attack at age 50.
CTE was discovered in his brain on autopsy. Since that time, American football has quickly become the poster child for the syndrome. Which is not to say that other sports don’t have their cases — CTE has been reported in ice hockey players, in rugby players, and more rarely in soccer players associated with heading the ball.
As our understanding of the syndrome has evolved, so have the symptoms that we associate with it. We now recognize that the Parkinsonian features that were described in dementia pugilistica– think Muhammad Ali — may not be as common as the psychological ones — depression, anxiety, and suicidality.
We’re also starting to understand how common the syndrome might be among professional football players. But I didn’t realize how bad it might be until this week, when a study asked ex-professional American football players if they thought they had CTE. One in three said yes.
Before we dig in, I need to clarify some terms here.
There is only one way to diagnose someone with CTE, and by the time you do it, the diagnosis won’t be much help. That’s because the way you diagnose CTE is via autopsy. It is a diagnosis that requires examination of brain tissue — and is characterized by tangles of tau…
