Study finds evidence of CTE in brains of young amateur football players

According to a recent study published in “JAMA Neurology” and partially supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) has been found within the brains of young, amateur athletes that participated in contact sports such as football, ice hockey, soccer, rugby, and wrestling.

According to a media advisory by the National Institutes of Health, the study — led by Ann C. McKee, M.D., chief of neuropathology at VA Boston Healthcare System and director of the Boston University CTE Center — examined the brains of dozens of young athletes.

“In a study of 152 deceased athletes less than 30 years old who were exposed to repeated head injury through contact sports, brain examination demonstrated that 63 (41%) had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disorder associated with exposure to head trauma,” the National Institutes of Health reported.

While a significant portion of the brains examinations led to the discovery of CTE evidence, symptoms often associated with CTE were present in all of the deceased athletes medical histories.

The exact cause of CTE is still not clearly understood.

“All athletes in this study had shown clinical symptoms, regardless of CTE status, as reported by those who knew them,” according to the report. “Clinical symptoms of depression, apathy, difficulty controlling behaviors, and problems with decision-making were common, even among donors without CTE.”

“Taken together, the findings demonstrate that evidence of CTE can be found in young, symptomatic athletes who play contact sports; however, more studies are needed to understand the relationship between repeated head injury, white matter damage, CTE, and clinical symptoms. Given that 58% of the brain donors who died at a young age did not have evidence of CTE, the causes of severe symptoms in this group are likely due to multiple factors.”