What can young athletes who donated their brains teach us about head impacts from sport?

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2023-08-29 01:00

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Photo by Riley McCullough on Unsplash

Young athletes exposed to repetitive head impacts who experience symptoms of head injuries such as memory loss and poor emotional regulation may not necessarily have the brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), according to international research. The team investigated 152 donated brains of young athletes who died before the age of 30, were exposed to head impacts as an athlete and experienced head injury symptoms. Just over 40% were diagnosed with CTE - which can only be diagnosed definitively after death. The researchers say the amount of symptoms the athletes experienced did not seem to impact their CTE status, however older athletes and those with longer sporting careers were more likely to be diagnosed. The researchers say more healthy donor brains need to be studied to fully understand what head impacts do to the brain.

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Journal/
conference: JAMA Neurology

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: US Department of Veteran Affairs, USA

Funder: This work was supported by grants from the Andlinger Foundation, National Football League, MacParkman Foundation, National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment, and the Nick and Lynn Buoniconti Foundation (Dr McKee); the Alzheimer’s Association (NIRG-15-362697 and NIRG305779 to Dr Cherry); the Concussion Legacy Foundation; WorldWrestling Entertainment (Dr Goldstein); the National Center for Advancing Translational Medicine (UL1TR001430 to Dr Mez); the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (U01NS086659, U01NS093334, U54NS115266, R01NS078337, and R56NS078337 to all authors and K23NS102399 to Dr Alosco); the National Institute on Aging (AG057902, AG06348 and supplement 0572063345 to Dr McKee; and AG61028, K23AG046377, and R21HD089088 to Dr Mez; F32NS096803 to Dr Alosco; P30AG13846 to Dr Kowall and AG1649 to Dr McKee); the US Department of Defense (W81XWH-13-2-0095 and W81XWH-13-20064 to Dr Mez); and the US Department of Veterans Affairs (CX00135 to Dr McKee and CX001038 to Dr Stein).

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