Is football safe for brains?

The Medical journal of Australia, 2012

World Neurosurgery, 2016

Frontiers in Neurology, 2018

Repetitive head trauma provides a favorable milieu for the onset of inflammatory and neurodegenerative processes. The result of long-lasting head trauma is chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a disease process well-recognized in boxers, military personnel, and more recently, in American football players. CTE is a chronic neurodegenerative disease with hallmarks of hyperphosphorylated tau (p-tau) aggregates and intercellular lesions of neurofibrillary tangles. The criteria for CTE diagnosis requires at least 1-2 focal perivascular lesions of p-tau in the cerebral cortex, at the depth of the sulci. These pathognomonic lesions aggregate within neurons and glial cells such as astrocytes, and cell processes within the vicinity of small blood vessels. CTE presents in a distinct topographical distribution pattern compared to other tauopathies such as AD and other age-related astrogliopathies. CTE also has an insidious onset, years after repetitive head trauma. The disease course of CTE is characterized by cognitive dysfunction, behavioral changes, and can progress to altered motor function with parkinsonian-like manifestations in later stages. This short review aims to summarize CTE in professional football, epidemiology, diagnosis based on neuroanatomical abnormalities, cognitive degeneration, and adverse mental health effects, as well as gaps in the literature and future directions in diagnostics, therapeutics, and preventive measures.

The death of (American) high school football players following an on-field collision during a game (according to media, eight in 2013, five in 2014, seven in 2015, and at least three in 2016) has alarmed us that we should make serious adjustments or improvements on the way the sport is currently practiced. Parents are increasingly worried whether they should allow their children to play football, some school districts have entirely shut down their football programs, and the number of male high school football players has continuously fallen to about 1.08 million in 2015, a 2.4% decline from 2010.[1] On the other hand, college and professional football leagues (NCAA Football and NFL) which are the preeminent games in the U.S, let alone the NFL the most watched sport followed by Major League Baseball (14 %). And youth and high school football programs are the gateways leading to as well as a nursery for the college and professional leagues. Thus, the warning signs are taken as great threats to hurt the football organizations' lucrative business, so they have systematically downplayed and denied the seriousness of the players' brain injuries and politically lobbied against the scientific research on the link between paying football and head injuries, though they recently admitted some truths about the danger of the sport. This paper, focusing on traumatic brain injury (TBI) and its degenerative kind, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), will survey the historical and medical narratives about head injury and contact sports, particularly American football; examine the current controversies and difficulties that occurred with research procedures and results of the scientific communities on head injury and football; investigate the currently proposed football practice-guidelines and game-rules by football organizations; lastly, propose recommendations which may serve as rather concrete and exhaustive guidelines for the elementary and secondary student football programs.

JAMA, 2017

Players of American football may be at increased risk of long-term neurological conditions, particularly chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). To determine the neuropathological and clinical features of deceased football players with CTE. Case series of 202 football players whose brains were donated for research. Neuropathological evaluations and retrospective telephone clinical assessments (including head trauma history) with informants were performed blinded. Online questionnaires ascertained athletic and military history. Participation in American football at any level of play. Neuropathological diagnoses of neurodegenerative diseases, including CTE, based on defined diagnostic criteria; CTE neuropathological severity (stages I to IV or dichotomized into mild [stages I and II] and severe [stages III and IV]); informant-reported athletic history and, for players who died in 2014 or later, clinical presentation, including behavior, mood, and cognitive symptoms and dementia. Among...

2019

Studies departments but also and most importantly that of Neuroscience and our subsequent Research Group formed by the late great Dr. Michael Persinger. This man was not only my friend and colleague, but also my mentor. He will forever & always be remembered and is the primary reason you are reading these words today. Thanks also goes to my committee including Marty-who like a baseball manager; took over the team he wanted, but perhaps not at the time he had wanted too. I would also like to thank my family-which includes not only the Juden's & Kelly's but also the Kitchikeesic'smost notable my mother Lynda and father Andy. I would furthermore like to extend gratitude towards all of my friends and coconsciousness colleagues who supported and believed in me from the start, however I would not have completed my educational career without the internal passion which was fueled by the doubters. Miigwetch.

Science and Medicine in Football

Frontiers in Neurology, 2023

Introduction: We examined postmortem brain tissue from men, over the age of 50, for chronic traumatic encephalopathy neuropathologic change (CTE-NC). We hypothesized that (i) a small percentage would have CTE-NC, (ii) those who played American football during their youth would be more likely to have CTE-NC than those who did not play contact or collision sports, and (iii) there would be no association between CTE-NC and suicide as a manner of death. Methods: Brain tissue from 186 men and accompanying clinical information were obtained from the Lieber Institute for Brain Development. Manner of death was determined by a board-certified forensic pathologist. Information was obtained from next of kin telephone interviews, including medical, social, demographic, family, and psychiatric history. The 2016 and 2021 consensus definitions were used for CTE-NC. Two authors screened all cases, using liberal criteria for identifying "possible" CTE-NC, and five authors examined the 15 selected cases. Results: The median age at the time of death was 65 years (interquartile range = 57-75; range = 50-96). There were 25.8% with a history of playing American football and 36.0% who had suicide as their manner of death. No case was rated as definitively having "features" of CTE-NC by all five authors. Ten cases were rated as having features of CTE-NC by three or more authors (5.4% of the sample), including 8.3% of those with a personal history of playing American football and 3.9% of those who did not play contact or collision sports. Of those with mood disorders during life, 5.5% had features of CTE-NC compared to 6.0% of those who did not have a reported mood disorder. Of those with suicide as a manner of death, 6.0% had features of CTE-NC compared to 5.0% of those who did not have suicide as a manner of death.

Sports Health: A Multidisciplinary Approach, 2014

Background: Neuropathology and surveys of retired National Football League (NFL) players suggest that chronic brain damage is a frequent result of a career in football. There is limited information on the neurological statuses of living retired players. This study aimed to fill the gap in knowledge by conducting in-depth neurological examinations of 30-to 60-yearold retired NFL players.

Journal of Neuropsychiatry, 2011

The authors recruited 100 active and former National Football League players, representing 27 teams and all positions. Players underwent a clinical history, brain SPECT imaging, qEEG, and multiple neuropsychological measures, including MicroCog. Relative to a healthy-comparison group, players showed global decreased perfusion, especially in the prefrontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital lobes, and cerebellar regions. Quantitative EEG findings were consistent, showing elevated slow waves in the frontal and temporal regions. Significant decreases from normal values were found in most neuropsychological tests. This is the first large-scale brainimaging study to demonstrate significant differences consistent with a chronic brain trauma pattern in professional football players.