Study finds link between CTE and length of career

A rugby player's risk of developing the incurable brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is relative to the length of their career, a new study indicates.

Each additional year of playing was found to increase the risk of CTE by 14%, in a study of the brains of 31 former players whose average career length was 18 years.

CTE can only be diagnosed postmortem, and to date the only recognised risk factor for CTE is traumatic brain injury and repeated head impact exposure.

The study, published in Acta Neuropathologica in the week of the Rugby World Cup final, found CTE present in 21 of the 31 brains donated to research institutes in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.

Cases with CTE averaged a career length of 21.5 years, while in those without CTE the average was 12.1 years.

The study’s lead author Professor Willie Stewart said: "In this study, we have combined the experience and expertise of three leading international brain banks to look at CTE in former rugby players.

"These results provide new evidence regarding the association between rugby union participation and CTE. Specifically, our data shows risk is linked to length of rugby career, with every extra year of play increasing risk.

"Based on this it is imperative that the sport’s regulators reduce exposure to repeated head impacts in match play and in training to reduce risk of this otherwise preventable contact sport related neurodegenerative disease."

Twenty-three of the players played at amateur level only, while eight also played at the elite level. The study found no correlation between the level the individual had played at and an increased risk of CTE, nor between whether they played as a forward or a back.

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