Hits significant in debate over CTE

Connections between concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy have been the subject of debate and discussion from Capitol Hill to the NFL’s Park Avenue offices in New York, but a new study suggests that the mental, emotional and cognitive challenges faced by some former football players aren’t solely attributable to concussions they suffered during their playing days.

The study, published Thursday afternoon in the Journal of Neurotrauma, found a correlation between the cumulative number of hits experienced by youth, high school and college football players and their later-life clinical outcomes. Researchers developed a metric that found the total number of hits to be a better predictor than concussion history of laterlife depression, cognition and behavioral regulation.