Table 1.
Demographic Characteristics of Participants According to Highest Level of American Football Played Among Brain Donors From the VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank, 2008–2019
| Highest Level of Play | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High School (n = 51) | College (n = 60) | Professional (n = 179) | |||||||||||||
| Demographic Characteristic | No. | % | Mean (SD) | Median (IQR a ) | Range | No. | % | Mean (SD) | Median (IQR) | Range | No. | % | Mean (SD) | Median (IQR) | Range |
| CTE status | |||||||||||||||
| CTE diagnosis | 22 | 9.4 | 47 | 20.0 | 166 | 70.6 | |||||||||
| No CTE diagnosis | 29 | 52.7 | 13 | 23.6 | 13 | 23.6 | |||||||||
| Age at death, years | 39 (16.2) | 36 (24–54) | 21–80 | 41 (13.4) | 42 (29–50) | 21–86 | 66 (15.2) | 70 (57–77) | 23–90 | ||||||
| Total duration of play, years | 7 (3.5) | 6 (4–10) | 1–16 | 12 (3.3) | 12 (9–14) | 4–17 | 17 (4.9) | 16 (14–20) | 5–33 | ||||||
Abbreviations: CTE, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, IQR, interquartile range; SD, standard deviation; VA-BU-CLF, Veterans Affairs–Boston University–Concussion Legacy Foundation.
a Quartile 1–quartile 3.