A recent study examining the brains of former NFL players who died between 2016 and 2021 indicates that a significant proportion may have suffered from degenerative brain disease related to repeated head trauma. Researchers analyzed 878 deceased players, with 235 donating their brains for research. Among these, 215 were diagnosed posthumously with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain condition.

The study, published in the British Medical Journal, also found that dementia was common among the brain donors. Researchers estimated a conservative minimum prevalence of CTE at 24.5%, with a possible maximum reaching 97.7% among the studied group.

Lead author Daniel Daneshvar, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, stated, "We and others have shown that in NFL players, specifically, there is about a four times higher rate of death from neurodegenerative disease than the general population." He added, "These findings indicate that NFL players have a higher prevalence of CTE at death than has been previously shown in multiple community based studies."

The researchers have called on the NFL to implement prevention measures aimed at reducing repetitive head impacts at all levels of the sport.

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