Concussion Legacy Foundation releases info on FB student-athletes who have been diagnosed with CTE

Submitted by Mr. Yost on

SIAP, here's the link: http://concussionfoundation.org/media/press-releases/CTE-diagnosed-in-players-from-over-100-college-football-programs

No laughing matter, MSU tops the list - but Michigan is on it as well.

(Boston) – The Concussion Legacy Foundation announced today that players from over 100 college football programs have now been diagnosed with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease that evidence indicates is caused by brain trauma. The data is from the VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank, a collaboration between the Department of Veterans Affairs, Boston University, and the Concussion Legacy Foundation.

Every conference within the college football Power 5 conferences (Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Big Ten, Big 12, Pac 12 and Southeastern Conference (SEC))  has at least one of its schools represented among the 15 college football programs with three or more confirmed cases of CTE. The 15 programs which have three or more confirmed cases have combined for 64 national championships.

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Edit: Check out a post from vbnautilus below that has very strong insight into a conflicting opinion. Very solid read.

vbnautilus's picture

Yo_Blue

October 20th, 2016 at 8:12 AM ^

What is Dantoni doing to his players?  Is it him or do they just beat their heads against the wall having to be around him?  Either way, he won't be happy with this report.

Brhino

October 20th, 2016 at 8:19 AM ^

Jokes aside, I believe the only way to diagnose CTE at this point is based on an autopsy.  So these are for the most part not recent players.  The names on the list I recognized are guys that played in the 50s, 60s, 70s, that time frame.

Perhaps the changes to concussion protocols, helmet designs, and tackling techniques will make a difference, but at this point it's probably too soon to tell.

Tater

October 20th, 2016 at 4:38 PM ^

They are supposedly five years away from a definitive diagnosis in the living.  But they can  find symptoms indicating that you probably have it.  If you have had numerous concussions and you suffer from headaches, memory loss and chronic depression, for example, there is a good chance you have CTE.

GWUWolverineFan

October 20th, 2016 at 8:12 AM ^

Everyone playing today has undoubtedly heard of the risks. And before some says that college players are kids, plenty of kids enlist in the military or take other high risk jobs at 18.

Not saying that risks shouldn't be minimized as much as possible, but certain activities are inherently dangerous- such as playing high level football.

Neg away.




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jmblue

October 20th, 2016 at 3:41 PM ^

I would have been terrible in that capacity.

I'm not questioning whether or not football is potentially dangerous, but the notion that "everyone knows" football is potentially dangerous, with the implication that the sport therefore bears no responsibility.  

Baloo_Dance

October 20th, 2016 at 9:28 AM ^

These are somewhat poor comparisons.  I'm all in favor of full transparency of the risks of playing football and allowing parents and kids to make a truly informed decision.

 

You join the military and you know there is a chance you'll be sent to war...

Take a high risk job...you know that and you are willing to take on that risk for more money...

People (of ALL ages) play football for a lot of reasons, and more and more information is coming about about the effects on the brain.  Anyone not welcoming the truth on this topic is likely ignoring it for selfish reasons.  

 

Now give me all the risks and the liklihood, then you can have a debate if it's worth playing the game or not.

ak47

October 20th, 2016 at 9:54 AM ^

Yeah and its wrong to take kids into the military at 18 too.  All brain research points to brain development occuring into mid 20's with long term risk analysis and consequnces being on of the last things to develop.  Just google the crime age curve for an example of how it plays out in reality.

The military targets kids specifically because they aren't able to fully comprehend the decision they are making and some of the potential long term costs and are still able to have their minds molded.  Kids don't make intellegint decisions and its generally a result of brain development.  18 is an arbitrary bullshit cutoff not backed by any science.

Mr. Yost

October 20th, 2016 at 3:25 PM ^

And you say this with no kids, no dog you can't live without...just that you're 9 years older?

I'm not disagreeing with you one bit. Just noting that if your circumstances have changed other than age...that could also play a factor.

But I get what you're saying and I don't think for a second that someone who was willing to do something at 18, thinking they had it figured out, would not do that same thing in their mid-20's...even if they DIDN'T have "grown-up" responsibilities that could influence them against the thing they'd do at 18.

ak47

October 20th, 2016 at 3:31 PM ^

People hold 6 year olds responsible for decisions too.  Teaching responsiblity is always a thing.  18 year olds are not grown ass men or women.  18 is an arbitrary bull shit cut off that holds zero bearing in any meaningful sense other than what society has randomly placed on it.

They aren't duped into joining the military but the average 18 year old sure as shit isn't considering the long term consequences of PTSD and the potential of getting it when talking to a recruiter or watching an Army commercial on tv.

Gulo_Gulo

October 20th, 2016 at 5:04 PM ^

So what you're saying is the average college freshman is too immature to make a life decision?  Then why do we let them go to college at 18?  Why do we push college on them knowing they are not taking the financial burdens they will accumalate into consideration.  How about picking a school, or a major?  Why let them even have the choice if they are not "old' enough to make an educated decision.

 

This entire way of thinking is naive.  I'm not thinking of the 1500 calories I consume every time I try an MGOBBQ recipe.  But, I sure as hell know eating 1500 calories every meal will make me a fat ass.

Joining the Military out of high school is one of the best deals a young man or women can get.  Immidiate free helath insurance for you and your family.  Life insurance policy, mine was $600,000.  Free tuition, room and board.  A chance to actually learn a skill.  And the honor of serving America.

Don't whine to me about PTSD.  Every military member is schooled on it, and made very aware of it.  Not to mention, by serving in theatre you only icrease your likely hood of getting PTSD by about 3%.  From 8% for the general public to 11%.

Bo Schemheckler

October 20th, 2016 at 8:26 AM ^

This can only be diagnosed posthumously so these cases all have to be from people that played at these universities 20-60 years ago. I am sure many went on to the NFL for further potential brain damage so putting this on the colleges seems like a false narrative. I also believe that about 3% of the general population develops CTE so on a roster of 100+ players you would expect 3-4 guys on every team to develop CTE eventually

Baloo_Dance

October 20th, 2016 at 9:24 AM ^

Where do you get your 3% number from?

 

This is the most damning part of the article.  Although, people who believe they have CTE are far more likely to donate their brain.  I would consider donating mine as an "average Joe high school player".

 

"Thus far 91 percent of football players (138 out of 152) studied at the VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank who played in college have been diagnosed with CTE."

vbnautilus

October 20th, 2016 at 10:20 AM ^

Neuroscientist here. 

It's also really important to point out that the sample of brains in this "brain bank" were collected specifically because the people who died showed symptoms of cognitive decline. So when they say in this article that 91% of the brains studied show evidence of CTE, this is extremely misleading since the sample has a selection bias. 

This group from Boston has been egregiously careless in my opinion in spreading these statistics that make it seem like everyone who plays football shows these symptoms. 

On the contrary, there is very little evidence that the incidence is different among NFL players compared to properly controlled samples. In fact many of the symptoms supposedly associated with "CTE", like suicide rate, are lower in NFL players compared to non-athlete men of similar backgrounds. 

There's good evidence that the impacts from playing football can affect the brain, specifically in causing changes to white matter tracts. But there is really only very circumstantial evidence that CTE is a distinct phenomenon separate from the processes that typically cause early signs of dementia in some portion of the population.

The amyloid plaque buildup which is the hallmark of "CTE" is very similar to that in Alzheimers, although this Boston group has a very strong interest in marketing it as a distinct, impact-related disease, the evidence for that is very slim. The fact that they advertise numbers like the percentage of brains in their sample that show the symptoms, when they know the sample is biased, is very revealing of their motivation here.

They are now taking the same statistic and back-propagating it to college, to say that many of these men played football in college and to generate more eye-popping percentages of how many of them played where. Of course they played in college, if they played in the NFL. Many people who go to college will develop amyloid plaques. Until they do a controlled study comparing college football players to matched non-football players, they shouldn't be talking to the media. 

My point is: football surely isn't good for the head, but be skeptical of the "CTE" hysteria. 

 

Yeoman

October 20th, 2016 at 11:20 AM ^

Socioeconomically it's really hard to get a proper control group. The life path of an athlete that gets a scholarship, often a degree, and then plays professional sports tends to be a bit different from their non-athlete peers in their old neighborhood.

UMProud

October 20th, 2016 at 4:36 PM ^

I appreciate you sharing your critical thinking on this study.  Is there data on the percentage of general population that develop amyloid plaques and/or white matter tracts vs the estimates of football players with these symptoms?

Blue Bunny Friday

October 20th, 2016 at 9:48 PM ^

I respect the fact that you are probably a neuroscientist but how much have you actually studied this?  I would like to see your sources with properly controlled samples when I can point to this from said Boston group:

... the frequency of Aβ plaques in CTE is significantly higher in subjects in their 60 s (*χ2 = 13.7, p < 0.001) and 70 s (**χ2 = 7.76, p = 0.005)

Also, it is not just the Boston group behind this, and I am not sure what "very strong interest in marketing" means in this case.  The other side has much stronger marketing interests.  

There is very compelling evidence that the microscopic distribution of abnormal tau proteins (e.g. perivascular, deep sulcal, and superficial) is different in patients that show clinical symptoms consistent with CTE and have a history of repetitive brain trauma (Link)

Sure there is a sampling bias until healthy people start requesting their brains to be sliced up after they die.  There is also likely some pathophysiological overlap and there have been publications about axonal trauma can up regulate the abnormal amyloid pathway (last link).

I believe concussion awareness is necessary and recognizing CTE as a distinct clinical enitity is part of that.  Making contact sports safer is the ultimate goal. 

xtramelanin

October 20th, 2016 at 8:33 AM ^

like life style choices are not being accounted for.  those folks did some very hard living back in the day.   concussions  and concussion safety is/are getting the focus they should, but the stats are not ready to be taken as gospel.  

meechiganman14

October 20th, 2016 at 9:02 AM ^

Exactly right. You can't do an autopsy on someone, find CTE, and say "yep, football did that." You know what else a lot of football players did (especially in the 70s and 80s)? Cocaine, heavy alcohol use and steroids. These are called confounding variables and it's impossible to gauge what contribution each had to the eventual diagnosis

MikeMulligan

October 20th, 2016 at 8:54 AM ^

My boy wont be playing until he is at least in 7th grade, if at all. Luckily that gives me 10 years for all of this to play out and become more informed.

I'm beginning to wonder if my very mild depression/anxiety/memory loss is due to 6 years of being a lineman...

TESOE

October 20th, 2016 at 11:55 AM ^

hang in there.  

There are worse things but who needs this.

The stigma is stifling.  

I haven't seen recent data to contradict the fact CTE is not position dependent.  Rotational traumas (which I intuit to be more common for WRs/QBs and RBs ... but you have to be careful about assumptions re: position and injury) are just as damaging particularly to the inner temporal lobe (where much of the memory processing goes down.) 

This I know.  Kids should not be donning pads before HS.  The data is there and the alternatives are there (flag, no header soccer, no check hockey, ultimate...).  That is not to say most kids don't come out of full contact football as better people.  They do.  Some, however, don't come out better in the long run.  Three percent is not acceptable...and neither is 1% IMO (it needs to be a random walk vs. same age non pariticipants ... again IMO.)  There are 1 million playing the game every year.  Do the math.

The developmental issues compound the simple math.  What we do to young boys (what I experienced) is close if not the top behavioral issue for boy's health. (Domesitic violence affects 4 million kids (male and female) a year but the outcomes don't compare easily.)  Boys can't be made more tough by subjecting them to mild traumatic brain injury.  That was the model of my youth.  We've got to do better for our kids.

 

Route66

October 20th, 2016 at 10:52 AM ^

Mike- You are not alone! Played since 6th grade at 4 years as a lineman at the D3 level. Anxiety, depression, mood swings and memory loss have been a visible part of my life for the last 8 years.....I'm only 36. This could just be "me" but I have some suspicions it has a lot to do with football. So sad because this awesome game built in me so many positive traits: confidence, team work, accountability, work ethic, etc. I have 3 little girls....if I had boys, they would be be playing.

The Mad Hatter

October 20th, 2016 at 9:10 AM ^

Get to work figuring out how to diagnose this without having to cut someone's head open.

And come up with some effective drugs and treatment options.  Stem cells?  The blood of virgins?  I don't care what.  Just fix it.  

DrewGOBLUE

October 20th, 2016 at 4:10 PM ^

Blood of virgins might have potential, no joke. Just as long as it isn't from a 50-year-old virgin.

There has been ongoing research at Stanford and also Harvard that has demonstrated age-reversing effects of parabiosis. That is, surgically connecting blood vessels between young and old rats. After a while aged musculoskeletal and even neuronal tissues become significantly rejuvenated.
 photo IMG_6809_zpscuszhago.jpg

Might be possible for virgin youngblood to drastically quicken the healing of ligamentous injuries as well.
......Jeremy Clark's looking at you, Wolverine Devotee.

You Only Live Twice

October 20th, 2016 at 9:18 AM ^

The deceased players would have had to agree to brain donation for the condition to be diagnosed, which suggests the problem might be more widespread.  Data can only be obtained from players who have passed away, so from the description, it is difficult to estimate the prevalence in players/former players who are still living.

Also, there are other causes, the trauma can result from other, non-football injuries, and some of the symptoms go along with just plain getting older.  

The value of this report is raising awareness, you can't really draw conclusions about any particular school or program.

CoverZero

October 20th, 2016 at 1:31 PM ^

I did not read the study (yet) however I remember when I played and all of the big hits that I took and the big hits that I dished out.  I was always one of the big hitters on the team.  To this day, I still have the effects of a broken wrist and probably some brain damage as well.

But what can be done?? IMO nothing... this is the nature of football.  No special helmets, no penalties such as targeting etc. will do much to reduce the physical hazards of playing this game.

Its part of football and is what we love about it...big hits.  That said, these things can help reduce but will never eliminate the physical hazards.  It is what it is.

I dont blame any NFL player who stays in long enough to qualify for the pension and sock a few million away...then get out as healthy as possible.