More research is needed to better understand and prevent traumatic brain injury such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy in American football players, Chad A. Asplund and Dr. Thomas M. Best wrote in an editorial published March 24 in BMJ.
Currently, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) can be formally diagnosed only at autopsy.
Though the National Football League denies a relationship between football and CTE, all confirmed cases of the disease in American football players to date were in those with a history of repetitive blows to the head. Athletes who began playing football before 12 years of age show greater cognitive impairment in older age than do those who started later, according to the authors.
“Further work into risk mitigation, paralleled with increased research into the pathophysiology of both concussion and CTE, is needed,” the authors wrote. “For now, it seems that the more we learn about CTE, the more questions are left unanswered – it still remains unclear if brain damage is an inevitable consequence or an avoidable risk of American football.”
Read the full article here: BMJ 2015;349:h1381 (doi:10.1136/bmj.h1381).