Long football careers linked to impulsive behavior, less white matter in the brain: Boston University CTE study

Long football careers have been tied to problems with impulsive behavior and less white matter in the brain, according to a new study from Boston researchers who found that starting tackle football at a younger age was linked to more white matter loss.

More needs to be done to protect the brains of athletes, especially children, from repeated hits to the head, emphasized the scientists at the Boston University CTE Center.

This new finding about less white matter in the brain was independent of whether the football players had suffered CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy), a progressive neurodegenerative disease frequently found in contact sports athletes.

Many former contact sports athletes suffer from thinking problems and impulsive behavior in the absence of CTE, or with very mild CTE. This new study suggests that a separate type of brain damage — which can appear earlier than CTE — may cause some of these symptoms.

“Damage to the white matter may help explain why football players appear more likely to develop cognitive and behavioral problems later in life, even in the absence of CTE,” said study author Thor Stein, a neuropathologist at VA Boston Healthcare System, and assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine.