kidhawk
Well-known member
[urltargetblank]http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/25/health/cte-nfl-players-brains-study/index.html[/urltargetblank]
From this study it seems that at the high school level, the risk is much less (approximately 20%), but grows rapidly at the College level (Approximately 91%) and is almost guaranteed at the NFL level (just over 99%). The fact that it is caused by repeated head trauma, this makes a lot of sense, but it also means that playing in the NFL is nearly a guarantee of having CTE. That seems a stiff price to pay for a game. It should be interesting to see if, in future studies, they find if any of the protocols in place today can bring this number down or not. I'm skeptical.
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, known as CTE, was found in 99% of deceased NFL players' brains that were donated to scientific research, according to a study published Tuesday in the medical journal JAMA.
Out of 202 deceased former football players total -- a combination of high school, college and professional players -- CTE was neuropathologically diagnosed in 177, the study said. The disease was identified in 110 out of 111 former NFL players. It was also found in three of the 14 high school players and 48 of the 53 college players. The study included brains of individuals who have been publicly confirmed to have had the disease, including Ken Stabler, Kevin Turner, Bubba Smith and Dave Duerson.
From this study it seems that at the high school level, the risk is much less (approximately 20%), but grows rapidly at the College level (Approximately 91%) and is almost guaranteed at the NFL level (just over 99%). The fact that it is caused by repeated head trauma, this makes a lot of sense, but it also means that playing in the NFL is nearly a guarantee of having CTE. That seems a stiff price to pay for a game. It should be interesting to see if, in future studies, they find if any of the protocols in place today can bring this number down or not. I'm skeptical.