Concussion, dementia and CTE: are we getting it very wrong?

A little less conversation, a little more science please There has been a large media interest over the recent years in the long-term health effects of concussive injuries sustained by sportsman, culminating in a Hollywood movie ‘Concussion’ starring Will Smith. Hardly a week goes by without further studies being announced in the media and creating considerable interest in social media. The message is that concussion is a dangerous condition that causes a complex neuropsychiatric disorder, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), with a neuropsychiatric phenotype of mood change, irritability and suicidal behaviour which develops over time into a neurodegenerative disorder and death.1 Increasing alarm has followed, and it has been suggested that this is not just a disorder of elite sportsman but a problem for youth sport and that even heading a football (soccer) may cause dementia,2 a terrifying prospect for those parents trying to decide whether...
Source: Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry - Category: Neurosurgery Authors: Tags: Editorial commentaries Source Type: research