{"id":1454,"section":"sports","section_label":"Sports","url":"https://www.brokenews.co/sports/1454","headline":"Study estimates 75% of former NFL players who died had CTE","dek":"The JAMA Network Open research covers players who died between 2008 and 2023 and adjusts for selection bias in brain donation.","body":"Researchers at Boston University, Mass General Brigham, and the Concussion & CTE Foundation published a new study in JAMA Network Open estimating that approximately 74.5 percent of former NFL players who died between 2008 and 2023 had CTE, the neurodegenerative brain disease linked to repeated head impacts in contact sports.\n\nThe figure marks a jump from an earlier estimate. In August, a study in the British Medical Journal, using many of the same researchers, put the number at roughly 24.5 percent of former NFL players who died between 2016 and 2021. That earlier study prompted the NFL Players Association to call it \"a sobering reminder that football carries real risks.\"\n\nThe new, higher estimate comes after researchers adjusted for selection bias in brain donation, since families who suspect a loved one had CTE are more likely to donate the brain for study in the first place. Most of what is known about CTE in NFL players still comes from donated brain tissue rather than from a representative sample of the full player population, which has made it difficult to pin down exactly how common the disease is across the league's history.","published_at":"2026-10-29T22:47:52.137548+00:00","source_count":3,"written_from":[{"outlet":"Pro Football Talk","publisher":"NBC Sports","title":"New study estimates 75 percent of former NFL players who died from 2008 to 2023 had CTE","url":"https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/new-study-estimates-75-percent-of-former-nfl-players-who-died-from-2008-to-2023-had-cte"},{"outlet":"ESPN","publisher":"ESPN","title":"Study: Estimated 75% of NFL players that died between 2008-'23 had CTE","url":"https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/50311853/study-nearly-75-nfl-players-died-2008-23-had-cte"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"New study estimates that nearly 75% of former NFL players had CTE at death","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/article/new-study-estimates-that-nearly-75-of-former-nfl-players-had-cte-at-death-190841288.html"}],"more_coverage":[{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"New study estimates about 3 in 4 former NFL players had CTE","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/study-estimates-3-4-former-150000741.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Boston researchers estimate nearly 75% of deceased NFL players from 2008-2023 had CTE","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/boston-researchers-estimate-nearly-75-170018133.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"New study estimates 75% of deceased ex-NFL players had brain disease CTE","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/study-estimates-75-deceased-ex-180414268.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"New study estimates 75 percent of former NFL players who died from 2008 to 2023 had CTE","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/study-estimates-75-percent-former-022200551.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Nearly 75% of NFL Players Who Died from 2008 to 2023 Had CTE, New Study Estimates","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/nearly-75-nfl-players-died-035353627.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Study estimates CTE in 75% of NFL players who died between 2008 and 2023","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/study-estimates-cte-75-nfl-160049290.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"‘You have the money’: Kelly Stafford calls out the NFL for not making change for safety","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/money-kelly-stafford-calls-nfl-221129536.html"}],"image":{"url":"https://nbcsports.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/425f32b/2147483647/strip/false/crop/1920x1080+0+0/resize/1920x1080!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fhdliveextra-a.akamaihd.net%2FHD%2Fimage_sports%2FNBCU_Sports_Group_-_nbcsports%2F861%2F206%2Fnbc_pft_nflconvo_261028.jpg","credit":"Pro Football Talk","width":1920},"embed":null,"license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","attribution":"Analysis data is licensed CC BY 4.0. Credit brokenews and link to the story page you took it from. Source headlines, story titles taken from a source headline, and quoted passages remain the property of their publishers and are quoted for comparison, not licensed onward.","terms":"https://www.brokenews.co/about#reuse"}