By Jill Pease
Among former college and professional football players, higher levels of inflammation were associated with microstructural changes in the brain’s white matter, particularly in regions involved in memory and emotion, according to a new study led by investigators at the University of Florida and Boston University.
The findings appear in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, and they offer new insight into the biological pathway linked to memory problems among some former football players. The research also suggests inflammation as a potential target for reducing the risk for brain degeneration in people who experience repeated hits to the head.
“Repetitive head impacts from popular sports like American football are a known risk factor for dementia later in life, but how these impacts increase dementia risk is not well understood,” said lead author Olivia Emanuel, a Ph.D. candidate in clinical and health psychology at the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions. “Our findings suggest that inflammation and changes to the brain’s white matter might be important contributors to cognitive and behavior changes with aging.”
Repeated head collisions are common in football and other contact sports. These frequent jolts may not cause concussion or other immediate symptoms but can accumulate over time, potentially leading to problems with memory, mood and behavior later in life, as well as a degenerative condition known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.
“Not all former football players experience problems later in life. For those who do, chronic inflammation may be a critical step in between sustaining repetitive head impacts and developing cognitive decline several years later,” said Breton Asken, Ph.D., one of the study’s senior authors and an assistant professor and neuropsychologist in the UF Department of Clinical and Health Psychology. “Clarifying these biological links will help us improve earlier detection and identify who is at greatest risk before too much brain change has occurred.”
The memory issues reported by some former football players suggest they may not be experiencing typical age-related memory lapses, Emanuel said.
“The frequency and severity of concerns reported by some people raise the possibility of something more than age-related changes, such as a neurodegenerative disease,” she said. “We often hear complaints about frequently forgetting details about recent events or conversations, needing constant reminders, or being told they repeat themselves. However, the types of memory symptoms can vary widely.”
For the study, researchers analyzed data from the Diagnostics, Imaging and Genetics Network for the Objective Study and Evaluation of CTE Research Project, or DIAGNOSE CTE, a study supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
Read the full story in the UF Health newsroom.