Citation

Redelmeier DA, Bhatti JA. JAMA Neurol. 2019; 76(2): 140-141.

Affiliation

Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences,Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, American Medical Association)

DOI

10.1001/jamaneurol.2018.3445

PMID

30419107

Abstract

Tiaina Baul (“Junior”) Seau was born on January 12, 1969, graduated from high school in 1987, and attended college until drafted by the National Football League in 1990. His 20-year American football career subsequently included awards for Defensive Player of the Year and Man of the Year, as well as 12 Pro Bowl appearances. During his career, he also accumulated an unreported number of concussions. Ultimately, he shot himself to his chest and died by suicide on May 2, 2012. His family donated his brain to the National Institutes of Health, the autopsy results showed chronic traumatic encephalopathy, and this case (along with those of other National Football League players, including Andre Waters, Ray Easterling, and Terry Long) helped drive news media speculation around concussions and suicide.

Medical science on concussions moves slower than the news media. One obstacle is the unique anatomy of the human brain that makes animal experiments unrealistic. A second issue is the range of intensities, trajectories, locations, and other mechanical factors that demand a large sample size to identify consistent data from diverse patients with concussions. A further impediment is the popularity of contact sports, as millions of Americans may not want to learn that concussions can cause lasting brain damage. As a consequence, the science of concussions has not progressed as far as the insights on many other adverse risks (for example, James Bond no longer smokes cigarettes yet still pretends to be impervious to repeated concussions) ...

Language: en