Degenerative Brain Disease Found In Nearly All Donated NFL Player Brains, Says Study (npr.org)

A new study published Tuesday in the journal American Medical Association found that 110 out of 111 brains of those who played in the NFL had degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). NPR reports: In the study, researchers examined the brains of 202 deceased former football players at all levels. Nearly 88 percent of all the brains, 177, had CTE. Three of 14 who had played only in high school had CTE, 48 of 53 college players, 9 of 14 semiprofessional players, and 7 of 8 Canadian Football League players. CTE was not found in the brains of two who played football before high school. According to the study's senior author, Dr. Ann McKee, "this is by far the largest [study] of individuals who developed CTE that has ever been described. And it only includes individuals who are exposed to head trauma by participation in football." A CTE study several years ago by McKee and her colleagues included football players and athletes from other collision sports such as hockey, soccer and rugby. It also examined the brains of military veterans who had suffered head injuries. The study released Tuesday is the continuation of a study that began eight years ago. In 2015, McKee and fellow researchers at the Department of Veterans Affairs and Boston University published study results revealing 87 of 91 former NFL players had CTE.

Comments

Sample bias

[Anonymous Coward]

Why would someone donate their brain if they didn't think they had damage?

Re:Sample bias

[ShanghaiBill]

Why would someone donate their brain if they didn't think they had damage?

Why not? Why do you need to keep your brain if you're dead?

I am an organ donor, and they are welcome to use any parts they can for anything useful. It may help someone, and it is less that my family has to pay to cremate.

Disclaimer: I don't play or watch football.

Re:Sample bias

[Anonymous Coward]

Because it gives you a warm fuzzy feeling whilst you're alive.

It is satisfying to me to know that when I die, there is a possibility someone else might be able to benefit from that. Rather than it just being an entire waste.

Re: Sample bias

[BarbaraHudson]

The media understand it here - they literally used the term self-selection bias on the news this evening. Then again, Canadian news tends to cater to a more literate crowd, not those with an attention span of 140 characters.

Re:Sample bias

[fluffernutter]

Oh my lord, I think you just nailed all that is wrong with America in that one statement.

Re:Hmmmm

[PsychoSlashDot]

Correlation does not imply causation.

Is the implication that playing football causes brain damage, or that having brain damage causes playing football?

As a lifelong nerd, I've often suspected both are likely, but I suppose you're right that we need to study this more before declaring "I knew it!"

Re: Post hoc, ergo propter hoc.

[Anonymous Coward]

You are a moron. Do you understand the complexities of an NFL offense? Your dumbass can read stackexchange for code snippets or look up RFCs at will (which you probably don't do), but these guys have 500+ play playbooks to fully understand where each play has at least 3 and up to 5 variations based on opposing looks and center + qb calls or MLB calls (on defense). Then they have to react to all of this in under 5 seconds of world class athletes trying to fuck up their plan.

Dumb jock in the NFL? Think again

Not Prove, but Yes IMPLY

[DumbSwede]

Correlation does not PROVE causation. It can however strongly imply causation, especially as we can plainly see and infer the other mechanisms at play here. Let's not be like the cigarette companies here and turn a blind eye to the likely health dangers with misdirection. As for sample bias, when you are 110 for 111 I don't care what your bias is, the likelihood is that far over half of serious football players suffer brain damage of some sort or severity. Football and boxing are not likely to go away in our generation, but they will have to be modified greatly or they will eventually be considered a sport only us ignorant ancients would engage in.

Causation has been proven

[sjbe]

Correlation does not PROVE causation.

It's a distinction without a difference in this case. CTE comes from being hit in the head which demonstrably happens a lot in football. CTE is relatively rare among the general population who do not engage in contact sports or who haven't been violently assaulted. It is quite safe to say that playing football is a common cause of CTE. Causation is not really a question in this instance and the causal chain is well understood. Some players manage to avoid being concussed but that doesn't mean that playing football was not the cause in those who do get CTE. There is no other reasonable explanation for their condition aside from head blows received while playing a violent professional sport.

Control group is non-football players

[sjbe]

Why would someone donate their brain if they didn't think they had damage?

Plenty of people donate their brains for research who do not have CTE or other brain damage. This has been studied among the general population quite thoroughly. There is no need for every football player to donate his brain to avoid sample bias. We have a control group in everyone who doesn't play that sport.

Re:Ask yourself!

[fluffernutter]

Except the brain damage doesn't start after you sign the contract. It starts just after your dad tells you 'tough kids play football' and you suddenly find yourself on the other side of the scrimmage line from all the freakishly huge kids from the other side of town. Parents are basically volunteering their kids for this in order for their kid to have a change at the big time. That's an awful big risk.