Degenerative disease found in more than half of donated brains from
ex-Australia athletes: study
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[February 28, 2022]
(Reuters) - More than half of the first 21
brains donated to the Australian Sports Brain Bank by former athletes
showed signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative
disease caused by repeated concussions, a study showed.
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CTE, which can only be detected when the brain is examined after
death, has been linked to mental health issues ranging from mood and
behavioural symptoms to cognitive impairment and dementia.
The study, which was approved by the Sydney Local Health District
Ethics Review Committee (Royal Prince Alfred Hospital), reported its
preliminary findings based on the first 21 completed donations up to
March 26, 2021.
"All 21 donors had participated in sports with risks of repetitive
head injury, including 17 who had played in football codes," the
study, which was published in the Medical Journal of Australia,
said.
"All but one donor exhibited some form of neurodegeneration, and 13
presented two or more neurodegenerative pathologies. The most
frequent neuropathology was CTE: 12 donors had pathognomonic CTE
lesions."
The paper added that six of the 12 donors with CTE, and one of nine
without CTE, had died by suicide.
Contact sports around the world are starting to deal with the
long-term consequences of players receiving repeated head-knocks
during their careers.
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The National Football League in the United
States set up a $1 billion fund in 2016 to
compensate thousands of former players who
suffered brain injuries linked to repeated
concussions.
A group of former rugby players filed a
class-action lawsuit against World Rugby and
other governing bodies in December 2020,
alleging that their failure to protect them had
led to early onset of dementia.
The rugby governing body announced guidelines
last year limiting full contact training to 15
minutes per week and launched a brain health
education campaign for players.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru;
Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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