Table 1.
Demographic, exposure, and pathological measures between pathology groups
| No RHI No CTE | RHI No CTE | Low CTE | High CTE | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sample size (n) | 39 | 36 | 31 | 50 | |
| Brain bank | p < 0.001 | ||||
| UNITE | 0 | 27 | 31 | 50 | |
| FHS | 24 | 7 | 0 | 0 | |
| NPBB | 15 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Age at death (SEM) | 71.21 (3.15) | 52.64 (3.92) | 52.77 (3.01) | 73.38 (1.62) | p < 0.0001a,d,e,f |
| Postmortem interval (SEM) | 21.03 (2.10) | 46.61 (5.77) | 48.28 (3.58) | 43.86 (2.92) | p < 0.0001a,b,c |
| RHI n (% exposed) | 0 (0%) | 35 (100%) | 31 (100%) | 50 (100%) | |
| RHI exposure years (SEM) | 0 (0) | 9.06 (1.39) | 16.65 (2.29) | 17.02 (0.93) | p < 0.0001a,b,c,e |
| Types of RHI exposure | |||||
| Primary sport | p < 0.001a,b,c | ||||
| Football | 0 | 31 | 29 | 49 | |
| Hockey | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | |
| Boxing | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Soccer | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| Military/other exposure | 0 | 4 | 3* | 2 | |
| CTE stage n (%) | p < 0.001 | ||||
| Stage I | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 14 (45.16%) | 0 (0%) | |
| Stage II | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 17 (54.84%) | 0 (0%) | |
| Stage III | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 28 (56.00%) | |
| Stage IV | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 22 (44.00%) | |
| Atherosclerosis† y/n (%) | 8/15 (34.78%) | 8/27 (22.86%) | 3/28 (9.68%) | 17/33 (34.00%) | p = 0.070 |
| Arteriolosclerosis† y/n (%) | 16/7 (69.57%) | 13/22 (37.14%) | 13/18 (41.94%) | 33/17 (66.00%) | p = 0.012 |
| Acute TBI‡ n (%) | 3 (15%) | 4 (13.33%) | 0 (0%) | 5 (10%) | p = 0.230 |
| APOE ɛ4 presence +/− (%) | 5/18 (21.74%) | 9/26 (25.71%) | 14/17 (45.16%) | 14/36 (28.00%) | p = 0.084 |
Data are presented as mean (SEM) years for age at death and contact sports exposure and as #yes (%) unless otherwise indicated.
CTE: chronic traumatic encephalopathy; RHI: repetitive head impacts; TBI: traumatic brain injury; Low CTE: Stages I–II; High CTE: Stages III–IV.
One individual in this group reported RHI exposure due to occupation as a firefighter.
Arteriolosclerosis and atherosclerosis were defined as moderate to severe disease.
Acute TBI was defined as the presence of hemorrhage, contusion, or other evidence of acute trauma to brain and/or dura upon examination by neuropathologist.
p values determined using ANOVA or χ2 test for proportions between all pathology groups. Significant (p < 0.05) post hoc comparisons are indicated as follows: a: No RHI No CTE vs RHI No CTE, b: No RHI No CTE vs Low CTE, c: No RHI No CTE vs High CTE, d: RHI No CTE vs Low CTE, e: RHI No CTE vs High CTE, f: Low CTE vs High CTE.