Citation

Eagle SR. JAMA Netw. Open 2022; 5(3): e223305.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, American Medical Association)

DOI

10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.3305

PMID

35315923

Abstract

The long-term brain health implications of contact sport participation have been intensely studied as far back as the first description in 1928 of cognitive and neuromotor changes in professional boxers by Martland1 in JAMA. Contact sports, including US football, expose athletes to traumatic injuries such as concussion. Repetitive head trauma has drawn particular concern for increased risk of later cognitive, mental health, and neurodegenerative disorders. There is controversy in the literature, because many reports have correlated repetitive concussions in football with neurodegenerative disorders such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or chronic traumatic encephalopathy,2 and others have identified no such association.3 Furthermore, other reports have identified alternative risk factors (eg, obesity), whereas others did not account for known contributors to neurodegenerative disease (eg, drug abuse, physical inactivity, poor sleep, poor nutrition, and mental health disorders)...

Keywords: American football

Language: en