A new study has found 75 percent of former NFL players who died between 2008 and 2023 had the neurodegenerative brain disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.
The study was published Wednesday in JAMA Network Open by researchers at Boston University, Mass General Brigham and the Concussion & CTE Foundation.
Some of those same researchers also published a paper in August that estimated one in four former NFL players who died between 2016 and 2021 had CTE.
CTE is a disease that can only be diagnosed after death, meaning research on the subject depends on brains donated by players or their families.
Symptoms include memory loss, depression and suicidal thoughts but it can only be definitively diagnosed after death.
Julia Gallini, the lead author on the paper, said the estimated figure of 75 percent was ‘concerning’. She insisted more needs to be done ‘to support families, diagnose CTE during life, and treat CTE-related symptoms.’
But they lived the good life while alive