@article{73a53af781a341869d47a08cc3b6dd1f,
title = "Association between contact sports participation and chronic traumatic encephalopathy: a retrospective cohort study",
abstract = "Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a debilitating neurodegenerative disorder associated with repetitive traumatic brain injuries often sustained through prior contact sport participation. The frequency of this disorder in a diverse population, including amateur athletes, is unknown. Primary historical obituary and yearbook records were queried for 2566 autopsy cases in the Mayo Clinic Tissue Registry resulting in identification of 300 former athletes and 450 non-athletes. In these cases, neocortical tissue was screened for tau pathology with immunohistochemistry, including pathology consistent with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, blinded to exposure or demographic information. Using research infrastructure of the Rochester Epidemiology Project, a comprehensive and established medical records-linkage system of care providers in southern Minnesota and western Wisconsin, medical diagnostic billing codes pertaining to head trauma, dementia, movement disorders, substance abuse disorders and psychiatric disorders were recorded for cases and controls in a blinded manner. A total of 42 individuals had pathology consistent with, or features of, chronic traumatic encephalopathy. It was more frequent in athletes compared to non-athletes (27 cases versus 15 cases) and was largely observed in men (except for one woman). For contact sports, American football had the highest frequency of chronic traumatic encephalopathy pathology (15% of cases) and an odds ratio of 2.62 (P-value = 0.005). Cases with chronic traumatic encephalopathy pathology had higher frequencies of antemortem clinical features of dementia, psychosis, movement disorders and alcohol abuse compared to cases without chronic traumatic encephalopathy pathology. Understanding the frequency of chronic traumatic encephalopathy pathology in a large autopsy cohort with diverse exposure backgrounds provides a baseline for future prospective studies assessing the epidemiology and public health impact of chronic traumatic encephalopathy and sports-related repetitive head trauma.",
keywords = "chronic traumatic encephalopathy, contact sports, football, tau, traumatic brain injuries",
author = "Bieniek, {Kevin F.} and Blessing, {Melissa M.} and Heckman, {Michael G.} and Diehl, {Nancy N.} and Serie, {Amanda M.} and Paolini, {Michael A.} and Boeve, {Bradley F.} and Rodolfo Savica and Reichard, {R. Ross} and Dickson, {Dennis W.}",
note = "Funding Information: The authors would foremost like to thank the patients and their families for their selfless act of brain donation, without which this study would not be possible. The authors would like to thank Drs. Walter Rocca and Caterina Giannini for study access to the Rochester Epidemiology Project database and the Mayo Clinic Tissue Registry archives. This study was made possible using the resources of the Rochester Epidemiology Project, which is supported by the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health (R01‐AG034676). The content is solely the responsibility of the authrs and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. We are also grateful for the training and data retrieval support of Barb Abbott, Kaitlin Schwartz and Gary Larson as well as histologic support of Linda Rousseau and Ariston Librero. This study was funded through grant support by the Florida Department of Health Ed and Ethel Moore Alzheimer's Disease Research Program (#7AZ08; KFB), Mayo Clinic Younkin Scholars Program on Synaptic Biology and Memory (KFB), Mayo Clinic Alzheimer's Disease Research Center Pilot Project Grant (KFB) and the National Institutes on Aging (R01‐AG062348; KFB, DWD). All study authors declare no conflicts of interest. Funding Information: The authors would foremost like to thank the patients and their families for their selfless act of brain donation, without which this study would not be possible. The authors would like to thank Drs. Walter Rocca and Caterina Giannini for study access to the Rochester Epidemiology Project database and the Mayo Clinic Tissue Registry archives. This study was made possible using the resources of the Rochester Epidemiology Project, which is supported by the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health (R01-AG034676). The content is solely the responsibility of the authrs and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. We are also grateful for the training and data retrieval support of Barb Abbott, Kaitlin Schwartz and Gary Larson as well as histologic support of Linda Rousseau and Ariston Librero. This study was funded through grant support by the Florida Department of Health Ed and Ethel Moore Alzheimer's Disease Research Program (#7AZ08; KFB), Mayo Clinic Younkin Scholars Program on Synaptic Biology and Memory (KFB), Mayo Clinic Alzheimer's Disease Research Center Pilot Project Grant (KFB) and the National Institutes on Aging (R01-AG062348; KFB, DWD). All study authors declare no conflicts of interest. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019 The Authors. Brain Pathology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of International Society of Neuropathology.",
year = "2020",
month = jan,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1111/bpa.12757",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "30",
pages = "63--74",
journal = "Brain Pathology",
issn = "1015-6305",
publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell",
number = "1",
}