Study Finds High Rate of Memory Loss in Ex-NFL Players

Former NFL players in their 30s and 40s are 19 times as likely as the general population to report suffering from memory-related diseases, a new report conducted by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research shows.

The study, which was first reported on by the New York Times, was commissioned by the NFL, and it will make it almost impossible for the league to ignore the growing sentiment that a career in football puts players at serious risk of suffering long-term brain damage.

The Times reports on the details of the survey:

The researchers also asked players - or a caregiver for those who could not answer - if they had ever been diagnosed with "dementia, Alzheimer's disease, or other memory-related disease."

The Michigan researchers found that 6.1 percent of players age 50 and above reported that they had received a dementia-related diagnosis, five times higher than the cited national average, 1.2 percent. Players ages 30 through 49 showed a rate of 1.9 percent, or 19 times that of the national average, 0.1 percent.

Although some observers have questioned the reliability of a telephone survey, former Pittsburgh Steelers team doctor Julian Bailes, who has researched the risks of concussions suffered by football players and is now the chairman of the department of neurosurgery at the West Virginia University School of Medicine, calls the study "a game-changer."

Concussions have long been a problem facing the NFL, and a recent GQ article detailed the toll that on-field brain injuries can take. But one NFL player, Sean Morey of the Arizona Cardinals, says he hopes the study is a game changer for more than just the NFL. Morey told the Times, "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."