Congress, the NFL, high school athletes and football-related concussions

The October GQ published correspondent Jeanne Marie Laskas’ profile of scientist Bennet Omalu, who reported that repeated concussions in pro football players can lead to a deadly condition he named CTE, chronic traumatic encephalopathy.  Omalu published his finding in 2005 in the journal Neurosurgery.  The NFL disputed those findings.  A more recent study, commissioned by the NFL itself and conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan, found that memory-related diseases, while rare among retired pro players, was 19 times higher among former NFL players ages 30 to 49 than among the general male population in that age range.  Meanwhile, Congress announced that it will hold formal hearings on head injuries among NFL players.

Reports about NFL players and head injuries have led some to speculate about the possible risks high school players face.  Arizona Cardinal receiver Sean Morey responded to the Michigan study, saying, “This is about more than us — it’s about the high school kid in 2011 who might not die on the field because he ignored the risks of concussions.”  On Monday, October 5, the GQ blog ran an interview with Julian Bailes, chairman of the department of neurosurgery at the West Virginia University School of Medicine.  Bailes says that an examination of the brains of three high school football players who died as a result of injuries sustained playing football found that one player had incipient CTE