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Abstract
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Playing soccer at a high level may lead to the same kind of brain injuries as boxing, postmortem studies at the Institute of Neurology in London have found.
The brains of six dead male footballers, all of whom had dementia, were examined, and four showed signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a characteristic pattern of damage that is nearly universal in the brains of boxers but uncommon in the general population.
Although the numbers were small the results suggested that repeated heading of the ball, together with other head impacts from collisions and falls, can cause damage leading to dementia. But the analysis was complicated because the six brains also all showed changes characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease.
“CTE has been found in 100% of the brains of boxers, but only 6% of the general population,” Helen Ling, lead author of the study, told a briefing at the Science Media Centre in London. …
Language: en |