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Wednesday, September 17th, 2014

NFL: Nearly One-third of Former Players Will Suffer Brain Damage

Author:    
Source:     Aljazeera America
Publication Date:     September 13, 2014 9:38AM ET
 Link: NFL: Nearly One-third of Former Players Will Suffer Brain Damage
Stephan:   This is really an extraordinary report. It shows that playing football is more dangerous that being in combat. When a third of the players will be permanently damaged by engaging in it, I'm not sure we can continue to call football a sport.
Thomas from London, UK

Thomas from London, UK

The NFL estimates that nearly three in 10 former players will develop debilitating brain conditions, and that they will be stricken earlier and at least twice as often as the general population.

The disclosure on Friday came in separate actuarial data the league and players’ lawyers released as part of their proposed $765 million settlement of thousands of concussion lawsuits. Actuarial data is based on statistical models and used to make informed predictions about future events.

The NFL report said that former-players’ diagnosis rates would be “materially higher than those expected in the general population” and would come at “notably younger ages.”

Both the NFL and lawyers for former-players expect about 6,000 of the 19,400 retired players, or 28 percent, to develop Alzheimer’s disease or at least moderate dementia. Dozens more will be diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s or Parkinson’s disease during their lives, according to the data.

“This report paints a startling picture of how prevalent neurocognitive diseases are among retired NFL players,” lead player lawyers Christopher Seeger […]

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