Hockey news: Longer careers linked to greater risk of CTE [Video]

The largest study ever done on the brains of male hockey players has found the odds of getting a neurodegenerative disease caused by repeated traumatic brain injuries increases with each year played.

The research out of Boston University CTE Center narrowed in on 77 deceased male hockey players — from the high school level to the NHL— and concluded that the likelihood of having chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) increased by 34 per cent each year played. Scientists also found that none of the players who played hockey for fewer than six years had CTE.

“Ice hockey players with longer careers not only were more likely to have CTE, but they also had more severe disease,” said author Jesse Mez, co-director of clinical research at the CTE Centre and associate professor of neurology at Boston University.

The study was published on Dec. 4 in the journal JAMA Network Open.

Of the …