Concussion in sport: CTE found in more than half of sportspeople who donated brains

More than half of a group of donors, including three under the age of 35, have been found to have chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a brain disease associated with concussions.

The Australian Sports Brain Bank reported preliminary findings on Monday after examining 21 brains that had been donated by sports people.

All but one of the donors who had played sports with risks of repetitive head injury exhibited some form of neurodegeneration.

There is only one way to determine whether or not a brain disease is linked to repeated head traumas. Cognitive impairment, impulsive behavior, depression, suicidal thoughts, short-term memory loss and emotional instability are some of the symptoms experienced during life.

Some of the cases of high-profile Australian rules footballer Danny Frawley, along with former rugby league players, are already reported. Farmer had Alzheimer's and took his own life, as did Frawley and Tuck.

The prevalence and severity of traumatic brain injury across all age groups and levels of collision-based sport was underscored by the additional findings made by Associate Professor Michael Buckland and his brain bank colleagues.

The brains of older former professionals with long playing careers, but also in younger, nonprofessional sportsmen and in recent professionals who had played under modern concussion guidelines, were identified asCTE.

Three donors were under the age of 35. Six of the 12 donors had died by suicide, suggesting that the disease may be a suicide risk factor.

If a history of repetitive head injury is known or suspected, then screening for chronic traumatic encephalopathy should be done in all deaths by suicide.

The link between concussion and subclinical concussion and irreversible brain injury has engulfed collision-based sports around the world.

In Australia, class actions against the governing bodies of football codes in particular are attracting more and more present and former players, increasing the pressure on sporting institutions to act.

The research has concluded that amateur athletes are no less at risk than professional athletes.

The researchers acknowledged that there was an inevitable bias for abnormal brain donations given the concerns of family members.

More than half of these cases were found to have chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

In half of the brains that were donated, it was the sole neurodegenerative pathology.

The brain has received donation pledges from amateur and professional athletes.