Top NFL official acknowledges link between football-related head trauma and CTE for first time.
Adam Rifkin stashed this in Concussions
Stashed in: Football, Brain, Awesome, TBI
This hasn't been in doubt but it's a breakthrough to have the NFL admit it.
The NFL's top health and safety officer acknowledged Monday there is a link between football-related head trauma and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE -- the first time a senior league official has conceded football's connection to the devastating brain disease.
The admission came during a roundtable discussion on concussions convened by the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Energy and Commerce. Jeff Miller, the NFL's senior vice president for health and safety, was asked by Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., if the link between football and neurodegenerative diseases like CTE has been established.
"The answer to that question is certainly yes," Miller said.
He said he based his assessment on the work of Dr. Ann McKee, a Boston University neuropathologist who has diagnosed CTE in the brains of 176 people, including those of 90 of 94 former NFL players. The disease can only be diagnosed after death.
Interesting findings here:
The National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety has found that aging former football players experience more cognitive decline than men of their birth year. The Centers for Disease Control has found aging former players live longer than comparable men and, despite the media impression, are less likely to commit suicide. For the current generation of aging N.F.L. players, football was bad for their brains but good for their health in other respects. Thus the arrow of reform should point toward brain protection.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/10/upshot/take-the-tackle-out-of-youth-tackle-football.html?_r=0
Was it in any doubt that the arrow of reform should point toward brain protection??
9:41 AM Mar 15 2016