Research suggests link between amateur football impacts, impaired brain function

Written By Arthur Weinstein
Are youth football players at risk of cognitive impairment?
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A preliminary study suggests that the more blows to the head an amateur football player takes, the greater the likelihood that player will suffer impaired brain function later in life.

The study by Boston University researchers looked at 93 men who played amateur football at some level from youth leagues through college. Researchers attempted to estimate how many hits to the head each player had suffered, based on their position and how many years they played.

The results, published in the March 31 issue of the Journal of Neurotrauma, suggested the more hits the player took to the head in amateur football, the greater the risk of depression and other cognitive impairment as an adult.

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Dr. Robert Stern, who co-authored the study, cautioned that the study is preliminary, and that it should not be used to infer that playing football causes problems later in life.

"This is not meant to be: 'If you get hit a certain number of times, you will have problems,’” Stern told The Associated Press. “That's not how this can be interpreted. It is important in that it starts to answer some questions. But by no means is it a definitive study. ... It is very preliminary."

Stern also authored a Boston University study published in 2015 that found, among a group of 42 retired NFL players suffering memory and cognitive issues, those who had participated in youth football before age 12 were more likely to have problems.