NFL players are more likely to have cognitive problems and depression than the general population, but not general cognitive impairment, according to a study conducted by UT Dallas Center for BrainHealth and UT Southwestern.
The study, published in JAMA Neurology this week, included players with extensive concussion injuries who remained cognitively normal said Dr. John Hart Jr., medical science director at the Center for BrainHealth and a professor of neurology and psychiatry at UTSW in a statement.
“In 60 percent of our participants—most of whom had sustained prior concussions —we found no cognitive problems, no mood problems and no structural brain abnormalities,” he said. “Many former NFL players think that because they played football or had concussions, they are certain to face severe neurological consequences, but that is not always the case.”
Since 2010, 34 ex-NFL players—including former Dallas Cowboy fullback Daryl Johnston—with a mean age of nearly 62 underwent detailed neurological and neuropsychological assessments measuring aspects of intelligence, cognitive flexibility, processing speed, language skills, memory and mood.
According to the statement, this is the largest study of its kind, and for the first time, researchers were able to find a connection between cognitive impairment and cerebral white-matter abnormalities. Players who had cognitive deficits or depression also had disrupted integrity in the brains’ white matter, which is connective tissue that allows information to travel from brain cell to brain cell.
About 24 percent of the players were diagnosed with depression. The rate of depression in an age-matched general population is about 10 percent to 15 percent, said neuropsychologist Dr. Munro Cullum, the study’s senior author and a professor of psychiatry and neurology at UTSW.
“There is still so much we don’t know about concussions and later life function, nor do we know who is vulnerable to cognitive problems later in life,” Dr. Cullum said. “Severe and moderate head injuries have been identified as a potential risk factor for Alzheimer’s. We’re still learning about concussions.”
