For years it has been known that former professional football players are at risk for chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). A recent survey of almost 2000 former NFL football players found that 34% believe they have CTE. This is a third of former players! There is no cure or treatment for CTE.
CTE is a degenerative brain disease caused by repeated by concussions and repeated blows to the head. Symptoms reported by former NFL players (average age 57.7 years) who thought they had CTE included: depression, cognitive difficulties, mental health problems, and thoughts of suicide. Frequent thoughts of suicide was strongly linked with thinking they may have CTE.
It is unknown how many of the former football players surveyed actually have CTE because it can only be diagnosed after death (by examining the brain). No one knows at this time how many football players will go on to develop CTE.
Excerpts from NPR: A third of former NFL players surveyed believe they have CTE, researchers find
One-third of former professional football players reported in a new survey that they believe they have the degenerative brain disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.
The research, published Monday in the medical journal JAMA Neurology, represents one of the broadest surveys to date of former NFL players' perception of their cognitive health and how widely they report symptoms linked to CTE, which is thought to be caused by concussions and repeated hits to the head.
The findings are based on a Harvard University survey of retired professional football players whose careers spanned from 1960 and 2020. Of the 1,980 respondents, 681 said they believed they had CTE. More than 230 former players said they had experienced suicidal thoughts, and 176 reported a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease or other form of dementia.
Some symptoms — including depression, signs of cognitive impairment and suicidal thoughts — were more common among the "perceived CTE" group, researchers found. Even after controlling for other predictors of suicidality, the study found that retired players who believed they had CTE were twice as likely to report frequent thoughts of suicide or self-harm.
But the inability to diagnose CTE in living patients meant researchers were unable to determine when former players' symptoms were a result of CTE or other causes. If other causes were responsible, researchers warned, even the belief of having CTE — an incurable degenerative brain condition — could lead to symptoms like depression.
More than 300 former NFL players have been posthumously diagnosed with CTE. Before their deaths, many had reportedly developed symptoms of cognitive decline, such as memory loss and mood swings. And some high-profile cases died by suicide — like Dave Duerson, the four-time Pro Bowl safety for the Chicago Bears who shot himself in the chest in 2011 and left a note requesting that his brain be examined for signs of trauma....
But the precise relationship between CTE and suicidal thoughts is still unclear. Research about suicide shows that a variety of factors can play a role in increasing someone's risk of suicidal thoughts, said Dr. Ross Zafonte, an author on the study and a professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University.
Because CTE can only be diagnosed with a brain autopsy after death, questions about its prevalence have remained as awareness has grown among football players and the American public alike: Just how common is CTE among former football players? And what portion of current players will develop the disease?
That picture remains unclear.