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In another troubling sign for the future of professional football, Boston University researchers ann

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In another troubling sign for the future of professional football, Boston University researchers announced Monday that they have discovered the degenerative brain condition chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in 345 of 376 former NFL players they’ve studied.
Researchers at the CTE Center, who have been sounding the alarm about the disease for years, said the 91.7-percent occurrence rate starkly contrasts with the general population’s, which is characterized as ‘extremely low.’
For perspective, in 2018, the Framingham Heart Study found only case of CTE in 164 brain samples, and that sample came from a former college football player.

CTE can only be diagnosed after death, but as the disease has gained notoriety, many football players have agreed to posthumously donate their brains for research.
BU researchers believe that ‘repetitive head impacts’ are the primary cause of CTE, although they are quick to point out that their latest findings are impacted by a selection bias.

So even though more than 9 out of 10 players studied were found to have CTE, that doesn’t necessarily mean 90 percent of NFL alumni are afflicted with the disease.
Dr.

Ann C. McKee, Director of Boston University’s CTE Center and Chief of Neuropathology at the VA Boston Healthcare System, does an autopsy on the brain of an NFL player who died in his 40s and donated his brain to to the VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, July 12, 2017
‘While the most tragic outcomes in individuals with CTE grab headlines, we want to remind people at risk for CTE that those experiences are in the minority,’ BU CTE Center director Dr.

Ann McKee said in a statement. ‘Your symptoms, whether or not they are related to CTE, likely can be treated, and you should seek medical care. Our clinical team has had success treating former football players with mid-life mental health and other symptoms.’
Former players diagnosed with CTE in the last year include Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Rick Arrington, Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Ed Lothamer, and Denver Broncos receiver Demaryius Thomas, whose family said he showed signs of erratic behavior and paranoia in the years leading up to his death in 2022.
The NFL has continued to adjust its this season after receiving criticism for the handling of several head injuries to Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
McKee previously examined the brain of another former NFL player, Phillip Adams, and concluded he also suffered from stage 2 CTE.

Adams killed six people and himself in South Carolina in 2021.
McKee likened Adams’s brain disease to that of Aaron Hernandez, the former New England Patriots star who was convicted of murder before killing himself in prison. Hernandez was found to have stage 3 CTE.
McKee, the director of Boston University’s CTE Center, previously examined the brain of another former NFL player, Phillip Adams, and concluded he also suffered from stage 2 CTE.

Adams killed six people and himself in South Carolina in 2021. Similarly, former NFL wide receiver Vincent Jackson was found to have Stage 2 CTE after being discovered dead in a hotel room in 2021
Adams was 32 when he gunned down Dr.
Robert Lesslie, 70, his wife, Barbara, 69, two of their grandchildren — Adah, 9, and Noah, 5 — as well as hvac room – he said – technicians James Lewis and Robert Shook, both 38, on April 7, 2021, in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
Police later found Adams with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

Adams’s family agreed to send his brain to Boston University to be tested.
Adams, who suffered a pair of concussions in a three-week span in 2012, had applied for disability benefits from the NFL prior to his death, but was struggling to get approval, according to his family.
Similarly, former NFL wide receiver Vincent Jackson was found to have Stage 2 CTE after being discovered dead in a hotel room in 2021. 
His family suspected CTE because he sustained multiple concussions during a 12-year NFL career.

However, he was never officially diagnosed with a traumatic head injury, according to team records.  
That’s not uncommon. About 20 percent of people suffering from the brain disease have never been diagnosed with a concussion, according to doctors from the CTE Center at Boston University.
‘We’d like to thank our 1,330 donor families for teaching us what we now know about CTE, and our team and collaborators around the world working to advance diagnostics and treatments for CTE,’ McKee said. 
Many researchers like McKee and Boston University associate professor Lee E.

Goldstein (MD, PhD) now believe sub-concussive hits also play a major part in CTE. That means seemingly harmless contact throughout a football game or practice could also be a contributing factor to CTE.
‘The NFL needs to overhaul their awareness campaign to concentrate on repetitive head hits that don’t rise to the level of concussion,’ McKee told GMA in 2021.
In a statement to GMA, the NFL pointed to its own efforts to fight CTE, such as a $100 million research pledge in 2016 — the same year the league agreed to a $1 billion concussion settlement with former players.
‘The NFL continues to mourn with the [family] of Vincent Jackson,’ read the league statement.

‘There is more to learn about head injury and related illness, and while the NFL is funding that important work, we also continue to make tangible progress in protecting players and making our game safer.’
Both the NFL and the NCAA have worked to reduce full-contact practice reps for players in an effort to cut the apparent risks of CTE.