Study: 1 In 4 Deceased NFL Players Had CTE [Op-Ed]

Look, I know millions of us love our American football, and the NFL is an institution sports fans across the country hold sacred, but is it really worth it if the NFL players we rely on for entertainment are putting their lives and physical health in danger, either imminently or in the long term? Well, I suppose, for many football fans, the answer to that question lies in how serious the risk is. How likely is it that NFL players will suffer some sort of brain injury, such as the degenerative brain disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)?

According to a report recently published in the British Medical Journal, the answer is at least 1 in 4.

From the Hill:

Over the last six years of the study, researchers received 235 brains of the 878 NFL players who died. In that sample, 215 brains — 24.5 percent — were diagnosed with CTE. They estimated the prevalence of the disease could be far higher in those years as researchers were unable to analyze the other 643 brains that were not donated.

“The possible prevalence at death [of CTE] during 2016 to 2021, when brain donation was most frequent, ranged between 24.5 percent and 97.7 percent,” they wrote.

The study also noted that late-stage CTE is more prevalent in donors with dementia as research continues to trace the exact causes of the disease.

Is there any job you would apply for if you knew going in that there was a 25% chance that you would suffer some kind of traumatic brain injury?

You might consider that to be a loaded question, one that offers a far-fetched hypothetical. The thing is, you’d be right about the far-fetched part, but only because, according to experts, there virtually is no other profession where such risk exists, save maybe professional boxing, where the condition that came to be known as CTE was first discovered, according to the New York Times.

“There are workers who’ve been exposed to high levels of asbestos exposure, which leads to very high rates of lung disease, and certainly, you know, a lifetime working in coal mines leads to very high risk of black lung disease, but a degenerative neurological disease — I’ve never seen anything comparable,” David Michaels, who led the Occupational Safety and Health Administration during the Obama administration and is now a professor at the George Washington School of Public Health, told the Times.

The fact is, CTE has been central to the conversation around the NFL and its responsibility for the health of its players for years now, since the disease was linked to football about two decades ago. In 2017, researchers for the Journal of the American Medical Association studied the brains of  111 deceased NFL players and found all but one showed signs of CTE. So, this isn’t a new concern by any stretch.

The real question is this: How much do the players, the NFL, and the fans actually care about the well-being of those who are putting their health on the line in the name of the sport and our collective entertainment? Is it all worth it, or nah?

SEE ALSO:

Why Skip Bayless’ Damar Hamlin Tweet Was Trash

Vincent Jackson’s Brain Donated To CTE Research

Does Knowing 1 In 4 Deceased NFL Players Had CTE Change How You Feel About Football? [Op-Ed] was originally published on newsone.com