Citation

Yari N. J. Am. Med. Assoc. JAMA 2017; 318(23): 2352-2353.

Affiliation

Texas A&M University Health Science Center, Temple.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, American Medical Association)

DOI

10.1001/jama.2017.16675

PMID

29260221

Abstract

To the Editor The study by Dr Mez and colleagues on CTE in professional football players1 may have overstated the relationship of CTE and football because of the presence of confounding factors and the inconsistent and unverifiable method of gathering symptom history.

Of the brains studied, 81% were provided near time of death, when players may have had mood, cognitive, or physical symptoms already, creating bias. In addition, 43% of participants reportedly had behavior or mood symptoms. Many had a substance use disorder, suicidal ideation, or a family history of psychiatric illness. These factors make it difficult to attribute symptoms to CTE alone because it is unclear whether those factors were present prior to head trauma or developed afterward.

Keywords: American football

Language: en