On Wednesday a study was released that said a disproportionately higher number of former professional football players, who played in the NFL for at least five years from 1959 to 1988 had developed either Alzheimer’s or Lou Gehrig’s disease. Hundreds of death certificates were reviewed by researchers to reach the link.
Prior to 2008, 334 deaths had occurred of ex-NFL players who had played during that period. Researchers found that the contributing or at least the underlying factor for the death of seven of the ex-players was due to Alzheimer’s disease. Another seven ex-players died from contributing factors related to Lou Gehrig’s disease. For the general population, the rate of each of the two diseases is just two for that number of total deaths. Researchers found that the rate of deaths from Parkinson’s disease was at the same level of the general population amongst the deceased players.
Researchers divided the deceased players into two specific groups – non-speed and speed positions. The non-speed positions were primarily lineman who did not run at rates of speed, while the speed position consisted of players who participated in collisions that could reach high speeds. The results of the study showed that members of the speed group were three time more apt to die from some type of a neurodegenerative disease.
In the past five to ten years, a large amount of evidence has been found that shows that trauma to the brain from accumulative hits to the helmet of a player can cause a neurological condition known as CTE. CTE is known to lead to dementia and signs of its development have been discovered in autopsies of number of ex-players in the NFL. One such player was Junior Seau who committed suicide in May.
