Aug. 28 (UPI) — In a groundbreaking scientific study published on Monday, researchers have unveiled concerning findings regarding the prevalence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in young athletes.
Previously, CTE has been predominantly associated with retired National Football League (NFL) veterans who suffered from deteriorating brain health due to repeated head impacts during their football careers, as well as individuals involved in other high-contact sports.
However, a study conducted by the Boston University CTE Center and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Neurology has revealed that 41% of athletes under the age of 30 also showed signs of CTE in their brains.
“It is now widely accepted that playing elite American football or ice hockey can lead to the development of CTE,” explained study co-author Ann McKee in a press release. “However, we are observing the emergence of this disease in young individuals predominantly involved in amateur sports.”
The findings indicate that even young, amateur athletes who participate in low-profile contact sports are at risk of developing CTE, despite their relatively short playing careers.
In the study, researchers from Boston University analyzed the brains of 152 participants involved in contact sports who passed away before the age of 30. Of these individuals, 41.4% exhibited signs of CTE.
The cohort primarily consisted of amateur athletes (over 70%) who had participated in sports such as football, ice hockey, soccer, rugby, and wrestling. Notably, the study identified the first recorded case of CTE in a female American athlete, a 28-year-old collegiate soccer player.
The research was conducted using samples obtained from the UNITE Brain Bank, an initiative that collects and studies over 1,400 brains donated postmortem in collaboration with the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Concussion Legacy Foundation.
McKee also noted that the majority of the young athletes whose brains were analyzed had either died by suicide or suffered unintentional drug overdoses. Additionally, interviews with their family members revealed that 70% of all the athletes, including those without CTE, exhibited significant symptoms of depression and apathy before their deaths.
The discovery that 40% of young athletes displayed signs of CTE is remarkable, considering that brain bank studies indicate a prevalence of less than 1% in the general population.
