{"id":146205,"date":"2026-08-25T09:00:54","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T13:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/?post_type=bu-article&#038;p=146205"},"modified":"2026-08-25T09:27:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T13:27:08","slug":"146205","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/news-events\/articles\/2026\/146205\/","title":{"rendered":"At Least 25 Percent of Former NFL Players Had CTE When They Died, New Study Suggests"},"content":{"rendered":"\t<div class=\"wp-block-editorial-leadin news-block-editorial-leadin is-style-text-over-image has-media has-media-focus-center-middle has-text-position-x-center\">\n\t\t<div class=\"container-lockup\">\n\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-leadin-media\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<img width=\"2672\" height=\"4000\" src=\"\/camed\/files\/2026\/08\/Brown-football-on-brown-grass.jpg\" class=\"\" alt=\"Brown football on brown grass\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/files\/2026\/08\/Brown-football-on-brown-grass.jpg 2672w, https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/files\/2026\/08\/Brown-football-on-brown-grass-425x636.jpg 425w, https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/files\/2026\/08\/Brown-football-on-brown-grass-684x1024.jpg 684w, https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/files\/2026\/08\/Brown-football-on-brown-grass-768x1150.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/files\/2026\/08\/Brown-football-on-brown-grass-1026x1536.jpg 1026w, https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/files\/2026\/08\/Brown-football-on-brown-grass-1368x2048.jpg 1368w, https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/files\/2026\/08\/Brown-football-on-brown-grass-240x360.jpg 240w, https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/files\/2026\/08\/Brown-football-on-brown-grass-342x512.jpg 342w, https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/files\/2026\/08\/Brown-football-on-brown-grass-481x720.jpg 481w, https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/files\/2026\/08\/Brown-football-on-brown-grass-668x1000.jpg 668w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2672px) 100vw, 2672px\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-leadin-caption wp-prepress-component-caption\">Photo by <a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/@sarah_elizabeth?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText\">Sarah Elizabeth<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/photos\/brown-football-VNmkt1J2Xvg?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText\">Unsplash<\/a>.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-outer\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-inner\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"wp-prepress-tag\">CTE<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"head\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAt Least 25 Percent of Former NFL Players Had CTE When They Died, New Study Suggests \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h4 class=\"deck\"> Boston University\u2019s CTE Center helped lead research that found the neurodegenerative disease was common among players who died between 2016 and 2021; rate may even be as high as 97.7 percent <\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar js-block-editorial-metabar news-prepress-layout-metabar\">\n\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-date\">August 25, 2026<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-credits\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-share js-bu-prepress-share-tools\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-twitter\"><span>Twitter<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-facebook\"><span>Facebook<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-action\"><\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bmj.com\/content\/394\/bmj-2026-100418\">new study<\/a> of former National Football League (NFL) players who died between 2016 and 2021 has found that at least a quarter had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). A worst-case scenario estimate from the study suggests that the number of impacted players could potentially be above 95 percent. By comparison, the rate of the neurodegenerative disease in the general population has previously been shown to be far lower, with CTE affecting perhaps less than 1 percent of people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-bu-buniverse news-block-bu-buniverse wp-block-global-buniverse\"><div class=\"wp-block-global-buniverse-wrapper\"><iframe title=\"BUniverse Video Player: 1fVskE0\" src=\"\/\/www.bu.edu\/buniverse\/interface\/embed\/embed.html?v=1fVskE0&amp;jsapi=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bmj.com\/content\/394\/bmj-2026-100418\">The findings<\/a>, by researchers at Boston University, Mass General Brigham, and the Concussion &amp; CTE Foundation, have been described as a \u201cwake-up call\u201d for scientists and the football community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Researchers analyzed the deaths of 1,712 former NFL players, including 338 who had donated their brains for evaluation or research. They examined postmortem data, medical records, and clinical histories, as well as the neuropathology, or disease profile, of the donated brains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The team found CTE in 93.2 percent of the donated brains, a figure researchers extrapolated out to suggest that among all those who died, the prevalence of the disease would, at a minimum, be 24.5 percent\u2014but could be as high as 97.7 percent. All of the players in the study were from the NFL\u2019s hard shell helmet era. The findings were&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1136\/bmj-2026-100418\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">published in the&nbsp;<em>BMJ<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That minimum prevalence of CTE \u201cis higher than expected,\u201d says&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/profiles.bu.edu\/display\/41783\">Jesse Mez<\/a>, MD, MS, a BU CTE Center codirector of clinical research. \u201cIf at least 25 percent of NFL players who died had these changes in their brain, then this seems like a call to action for more discussion about risk, more research, and more support for affected families.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cte\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">BU CTE Center<\/a>&nbsp;has published more than 100 studies and been instrumental in linking the progressive neurodegenerative disease to a range of symptoms, including memory loss, problem solving difficulty, aggression, poor impulse control, and slow movement. It has also found CTE in a high proportion of contact sport athletes studied, particularly former pro football players. The center, which hosts the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cte\/brain-donation-registry\/brain-bank\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">largest brain bank of its kind in the world<\/a>, has pinpointed repeated hits to the head as a cause of CTE and other negative brain changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBecause there is a rather linear dose-response relation between the amount of play and risk for CTE, we might also expect higher prevalence for college and high school players, too,\u201d says Mez, a BU Chobanian &amp; Avedisian School of Medicine associate professor of neurology and BU Alzheimer\u2019s Disease Research Center associate director. \u201cWe have efforts underway to take a similar approach among former college football players. We are also using a geospatial approach to understand these relationships among football players at the county level.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>Because there is a rather linear dose-response relation between the amount of play and risk for CTE, we might also expect higher prevalence for college and high school players, too.<\/p><cite>Jesse Mez, MD, MS<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Mez\u2019s coauthor,&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.massgeneralbrigham.org\/en\/doctors\/d\/daniel-daneshvar-2999031\" target=\"_blank\">Daniel Daneshvar<\/a>, MD, PhD,&nbsp;of Mass General Brigham and Harvard Medical School, says that finding that \u201csomewhere between 24.5 percent and 97.7 percent of NFL players from that time period had this progressive brain disease is a wake-up call for the NFL and scientific communities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The researchers noted high rates of dementia among brain donors, a diagnosis that was also associated with severe CTE. In<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/articles\/2026\/nfl-players-risk-cte-als-dementia-parkinsons\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&nbsp;a previous study<\/a>&nbsp;of 20,000 NFL players, Mez and his colleagues had found football stars were at a significantly increased risk of dying of neurodegenerative diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), dementia, and Parkinson\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There\u2019s currently no way to diagnose CTE in life, though BU researchers are working on a number of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/articles\/2024\/can-cte-be-diagnosed-in-life\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">projects that aim to change that<\/a>, including&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bankcte.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Bank CTE<\/a>, a major new study following people aged over 40 who played an organized or collision sport or served in the military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And while there\u2019s much work still to do to understand CTE, Mez says former football players\u2014and others\u2014experiencing symptoms can still get help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe recognize that these findings will be concerning for NFL players and their families, and we want them to know that&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cte\/resources\/resources-for-families\/\" target=\"_blank\">help is available<\/a>,\u201d he says. \u201cWe have treatments for many symptoms believed to be associated with CTE, and in our clinic, we find that symptoms can improve with proper medical care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/articles\/2026\/many-former-nfl-players-had-cte-before-death\/\">BU Brink<\/a> story was written by Andrew Thurston. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new study of former National Football League (NFL) players who died between 2016 and 2021 has found that at least a quarter had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). A worst-case scenario estimate from the study suggests that the number of impacted players could potentially be above 95 percent. By comparison, the rate of the neurodegenerative [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":903,"featured_media":146206,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":"CTE"},"tags":[139,412,568],"bu-publication":[367],"medicine-article-category":[],"medicine-topic":[],"news-article-category":[385],"news-topic":[],"bu_edition":[],"media_type":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/146205"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/903"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146205"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/146205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":146214,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/146205\/revisions\/146214"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146205"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=146205"},{"taxonomy":"medicine-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/medicine-article-category?post=146205"},{"taxonomy":"medicine-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/medicine-topic?post=146205"},{"taxonomy":"news-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-article-category?post=146205"},{"taxonomy":"news-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-topic?post=146205"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=146205"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=146205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}