Chronic traumatic encephalopathy rate among former soccer players higher than in general population
WEDNESDAY, Feb. 15, 2017 (HealthDay News) — For the first time, evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in retired soccer players has been confirmed, according to a study published online Feb. 15 in Acta Neuropathologica.
Investigators in the United Kingdom examined the brains of six former soccer players with dementia who had died. All six had signs of Alzheimer’s disease and four also had signs of CTE.
The rate of CTE among the former soccer players was higher than the 12 percent found in the general population, the researchers reported.
“All of the players whose brain autopsies showed signs of CTE also had Alzheimer’s pathology, but the relationship between the two diseases remains unclear,” lead author Helen Ling, M.D., a neurologist at University College London, said in a university news release.
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