Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Risk Not Increased by Time or Position Played

 A new study published in Neurology suggests the position an athlete played in a collision sport is not associated with the risk of developing brain disease later in life. Of the 35 athletes in the study, 17(49%) showed evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
    
“In football, linemen tend to get more concussions than players at other positions; in hockey, forwards do,” said study author Lili-Naz Hazrati, MD, PhD, of the University of Toronto in Ontario, Canada. “Also, longer careers have been associated with an increased number of concussions. But it hasn’t been clear whether position played and career length are tied to an increased risk of CTE.”
  
The study observed the brains of 35 deceased professional male athletes, 24 football players and 11 hockey players. All athletes in the study had neurologic or neuropsychiatric symptoms, ranging from minor mood disorders to severe dementia. Online databases were researched to determine the length of the players’ careers, the age they retired, and the position they played. For those who played hockey, researchers looked at their fighting history and number of penalty minutes. 
    
With participants segregated between respective sport no correlation was found between position played and CTE presence, nor between hockey fighting or penalty histories and CTE. In football and hockey athletic groups, there was no association between age of retirement and CTE presence. 
  
“Our results are surprising when you consider previous studies have found upwards of 80% CTE in the brains of football players,” Hazrati said. “More research into factors not related to sports, like genetic factors, stress, drugs or alcohol, may help us understand why different athletes have different susceptibilities to CTE.”