In another troubling sign for the future of professional football, Boston University researchers announced Monday that they have discovered the degenerative brain condition chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in 345 of 376 former NFL players they’ve studied.
Researchers at the CTE Center, who have been sounding the alarm about the disease for years, said the 91.7-percent occurrence rate starkly contrasts with the general population’s, which is characterized as ‘extremely low.’
For perspective, in 2018, the Framingham Heart Study found only case of CTE in 164 brain samples, and that sample came from a former college football player.
CTE can only be diagnosed after death, but as the disease has gained notoriety, many football players have agreed to posthumously donate their brains for research.