BRAIN experts have warned against making simplistic links between sporting head injuries and dementia.
More than 60 leading international neuroscientists have stressed they still know little about a condition called chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE.
That has not stopped a spree of articles in both the popular and academic press linking frequent concussions among boxers, footballers or rugby players with the disease.
Some former sporting stars have sought to blame their dementia on injuries sustained in their sporting careers. Former Celtic player Billy McPhail back in 1999 claimed heading a heavy ball contributed to his Alzheimers.
Then a coroner decided that an English footballer, Jeff Astle, died because if brain damage received in his youth heading heavy balls.
One of the doctors who investigated Mr Astle was Willie Stewart, consultant neuropathologist and honorary clinical associate professor Glasgow University. He was one of the experts signing a letter to The Lancet Neurology urging caution on the scale of CTE - or even its symptoms.
He said: “In recent years there has been a worrying trend to imply that the causes, diagnosis and prevalence of CTE are fully understood, or at least that data to date leave little doubt.”
“The truth is we know very little about CTE, certainly not enough to be able to estimate with any certainty how many people might be affected, or what the various symptoms might be. Much more research effort is required before we can confidently say we understand this condition.”
Although CTE is often discussed, experts in their joint letter said there was only preliminary agreement on how to recognise this disease, and no agreement on how to assess its severity.
There is also no clear understanding of the link between CTE pathology and any specific symptoms, they said.
Douglas Smith, of the University of Pennsylvania, added: “Current reporting on the possible consequences of CTE without acknowledging the many unknowns and uncertainties can do real harm.
“In particular, individuals with potentially treatable conditions might make decisions on their future based on a misguided understanding that their symptoms are the inevitable consequence of a brain disease that will lead to dementia.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here