A recent study found that 34% of former professional football players believed they had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). They also found that these men had increased thoughts of suicide compared with former athletes who didn’t think they had CTE.
While there is no test to confirm CTE while the person is still alive, there are symptoms and risk factors that can support a presumptive diagnosis. It can manifest through cognitive issues like memory loss and confusion, behavioral changes including depression and aggression, motor problems such as slurred speech and poor coordination, and other symptoms like headaches and emotional instability.
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The study surveyed 4,180 former professional football players. More than a third perceived they had CTE. Notably, those with perceived CTE were twice as likely to report suicidal thoughts, even after adjusting for other risk factors: 1 in 4 people in this group reported “thoughts that [they] would be better off dead or hurting [themselves] in some way.”
“This study was not designed to look at CTE, since living players have no way of knowing whether or not they have that neuropathology, but to look for patterns among those who believe they have CTE,” said Rachel Grashow, of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, and co-authors.
“When we looked for commonalities among former players who believed they had CTE, we saw that they were significantly more likely to self-report not only cognitive symptoms—issues with memory, thinking, concentration—but also a number of conditions that cause cognitive problems such as headaches, low testosterone, depression, and pain.”
While this finding is unfortunate, it does—at the very least—allow for better treatment of those who suspect CTE, as there are safe and effective treatments available.
Just yesterday, Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre revealed he has Parkinson’s Disease, possibly a result of the “three or four” concussions he experienced throughout his football career. Suffice it to say that getting hit in the head on several occasions might just have devastating consequences.
