According to a new study, at least one in four NFL players who passed away between 2016 and 2021 had CTE, a degenerative brain illness.
The British Medical Journal published the study on Tuesday. It examined the potential prevalence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy in NFL players. It discovered that at least 25% of the 878 NFL players who played in at least one game and passed away over that six-year span had CTE.
The majority of study has relied on athletes’ or their families’ brains because CTE can only be identified after death.
This study used tissues that were donated between 2008 and 2021, of which 93% had been diagnosed with CTE. The sample was then refined according to the peak donation period, taking into account demographic characteristics and details from death certificates.
The principal author of the study, Dr. Daniel Daneshvar, stated that the estimate of 25% is on the “low end.” According to Daneshvar, the actual rate “is somewhere in the middle,” but the study’s greatest potential prevalence of CTE was approximately 97%.
In a statement, the NFL stated that it “continuously strives to make the game of football safer, including by implementing strategies to reduce concussions and head impacts.”
