Study: At least 25% of NFL players in sample had CTE - ESPN

At least one in four NFL players who died between 2016 and 2021 had the degenerative brain disease known as CTE, a new study has revealed.

The study, published Tuesday by the British Medical Journal, focused on how common chronic traumatic encephalopathy might be among NFL players. What it found is that of the 878 players who appeared in at least one NFL game and died in that six-year period, at least 25% had CTE.

CTE can be diagnosed only after death, so most research has depended on brains donated by players or their families. This study drew on samples donated between 2008 and 2021, 93% of which had been diagnosed with CTE, then narrowed the sample based on when donations were highest and factored in demographic data and information from death certificates.

The estimate of 25% is on the «low end,» said Dr. Daniel Daneshvar, the study's lead author. The study found that the maximum possible prevalence of CTE was around 97%, but the true rate «is somewhere in the middle,» Daneshvar said.

«This study is a sobering reminder that football carries real risks, and those risks can have lasting consequences for players and their families,» the NFLPA said in a statement to ESPN. «It also reinforces one of the NFLPA's core priorities: improving player safety and supporting players throughout their lives, both during and after their careers.

»The findings should serve as a call to action across the entire football ecosystem. We all share a responsibility to advance research, improve access to care, develop better treatments, and support those affected by the long-term impacts of the game."

The NFL «continuously strives to make the game of football safer, including by implementing strategies to reduce concussions and head