Warning: this episode contains mentions of suicide.
A recently released study from researchers at Boston University examined the brains of 152 contact-sport athletes who died before turning 30. They found that more than 40 percent of them had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or C.T.E., the degenerative brain disease associated with repeated hits to the head. Most of those athletes played football, and most played no higher than the high school or college level. John Branch, domestic correspondent for The New York Times, spoke to the families of five of these athletes.
Duration
36m
Broadcast on
19 Dec 2023
Audio Format
other
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Warning: this episode contains mentions of suicide.
A recently released study from researchers at Boston University examined the brains of 152 contact-sport athletes who died before turning 30. They found that more than 40 percent of them had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or C.T.E., the degenerative brain disease associated with repeated hits to the head. Most of those athletes played football, and most played no higher than the high school or college level. John Branch, domestic correspondent for The New York Times, spoke to the families of five of these athletes.
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This podcast is supported by TikTok. Sometimes the most interesting discoveries are the ones you weren't looking for. That happens every day on TikTok. A science experiment can spark a whole new interest. A recipe you stumble upon can become a meal you make for the people you love. And a restaurant you've never heard of might become your new favorite spot. That's the thing about TikTok. Follow your curiosity and see where it leads. Your next discovery is waiting on TikTok. From New York Times, I'm Michael Roborro. This is The Daily. They started playing football as young as six years old. They died in their teens and twenties with CTE. Today, my colleague, John Branch, on the growing body of evidence that a disease many believed was reserved for professional athletes is also afflicting young amateurs. It's Tuesday, December 19th. John, we wanted to talk to you because you've spent many years trying to understand what's been happening to the brains of athletes who play contact sports. And you have been talking to researchers who study those brains. And those researchers recently told you about a major new discovery. So tell us about that. Yeah, so what we're talking about, and when we're talking about brain damage in contact sports athletes is CTE, which stands for chronic traumatic encephalopathy. And what this is, it's the brain disease, progressive brain disease, caused by concussions and gets to the head. And for the most part, CTE has been connected with, at least in terms of the public perception, aging football players, Hall of Fame style football players. You know, Ken Stabler, the Earl Morals, people a junior say out, there are now 300 and some former NFL players who have been posthumously diagnosed with CTE. But what's new now is that for the first time, these researchers have gathered this growing subset of young brains, of young people, people under the age of 30 into a profound study. And it shows, you know, things that we knew were suspected, but it puts it in very, in very stark terms. Young athletes, even teenagers, as young as 17 years old, are getting CTE and feeling the effects of it. Wow.
Transcription truncated.
Warning: this episode contains mentions of suicide.
A recently released study from researchers at Boston University examined the brains of 152 contact-sport athletes who died before turning 30. They found that more than 40 percent of them had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or C.T.E., the degenerative brain disease associated with repeated hits to the head. Most of those athletes played football, and most played no higher than the high school or college level. John Branch, domestic correspondent for The New York Times, spoke to the families of five of these athletes.
