Brain lesions in former NFL players called white matter hyperintensities are connected to brain shrinkage, vascular risk factors, and other indicators of dementia. Also, researchers found them more among former players than people who did not play football.
Boston University’s Michael Alosco recommends analyzing brain scans’ white matter hyperintensities to study the long-term impact of head injuries. According to NFL news reports, repetitive head impacts are related to chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a disease that can lead to dementia.
Although the study found white matter hyperintensities and recurrent head impacts associated with other brain alterations, it did not establish this. At most, it reveals a correlation.
The average age of the 120 former NFL players and 60 former collegiate football players who participated in the study was 57. Sixty males, with an average age of 59, who were symptom-free, non-football players and free of concussions and repetitive blows to the head were compared to them.
Brain Lesions in Former NFL Players
Among other things, the patients had lumbar punctures and brain scans to search for signs of neurodegenerative illness and abnormalities in white matter.
Football players with more white matter hyperintensities have higher risk factors for vascular diseases, higher concentrations of p-tau proteins, and exhibit brain shrinkage and decreased white matter pathway integrity.
Compared to non-athletes, the correlation between white matter hyperintensities and the risk of stroke was over eleven times larger in former football players. According to sportsbook pay per head services sources, the correlation for p-tau was 2.5 times higher in the football team. In the group of ex-football players, the correlation was almost four times greater for a marker of white matter integrity.
Since all the participants were volunteers, the research may not represent all ex-football players. The results also will not apply to the public because they were based on a sample of elite football players.
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