degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which is seen in football players and boxers.
Battlefield blast exposure has been added to the list of triggers that increase the risk for CTE, and with this latest report, soccer players are also members of this “club” at high risk for serious cognitive impairment because of genetic vulnerability and repeated brain injuries, he said.
“Almost no one with two APOE e4 alleles escapes dementia, and exposing children with two APOE e4 alleles to collision sports might well guarantee that they lose cognitive function,” Gandy said.
The report was published online Jan. 27 in JAMA Neurology.
Dr. Gayatri Devi is a neurologist and psychiatrist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. She said, “In an increasingly competitive world, particularly in the area of sport, athletes seek an edge, sometimes at great personal cost. Using the head as a weapon or a tool comes at a cost because the cranium houses our most precious organ — the brain within. Nature housed our soft brains in our very hard skulls for an excellent reason — protection.”
For more on the APOE e4 gene and dementia, head to the U.S. National Institute on Aging.