NFL: At least one in four dead players had brain disease, says study - BBC Sport

A new study says at least one in four ex-NFL players who died between 2016 and 2021 had a degenerative brain disease but the true figure could be much higher.

Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Brain scans of a former NFL player who was diagnosed with CTE

As many as 97.7% of NFL players who died between 2016 and 2021 could have had brain disease related to repeated blows to the head, a new study says.

Researchers looked at 878 former players who died during that period, with 235 having donated their brains to research.

Of those, 215 were found to have chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease which can only be diagnosed after death.

The study, published in the British Medical Journal, external, also found dementia was common among brain donors.