The Nine Year Test

Marc Martinez

The Nine Year Test

In today’s sports world, concussions have found their way towards the understanding of depression among athletes playing football, particularly among NFL players. In a research from the American journal of sports medicine Nine-year Risk of Depression Diagnosis Increases with Increasing Self-Reported Concussions in Retired Professional Football Players written by Kerr, Marshall, Harding Jr, and Guskiewicz; a cohort study was conducted with retired members of the NFL responding to a health survey1. Concussions in the NFL are higher than any other sports played. The Quarterback, wide receiver, tight end and defensive back position in the NFL have a higher risk of sustaining a concussion. Theories from this study suggest that there is a dose response between head impact exposure and an increased risk for depression and dementia in later life for NFL players2. One hypothesis of this study on the accelerated progression of long term mental health is that brain lesions caused by concussions may produce biochemical changes that increases the number of excitatory neurotransmitters and results in neuron loss and cell death. The purpose of this conducted study was to have an understanding determining the 9 year risk of the diagnosis of depression in former NFL players to ascertain the effects of recurrent concussions on the clinical diagnosis of depression. The focus of this study was examining if self-reported changes in physical health over the past decade were different between players with and without a depression diagnosis during a follow up from survey players received.

The cohort study for this article was of a group of former NFL players that ranged from players all the way back to World War II to players who played in the 1990’s and 2000’s. Data was collected in 2001 with a baseline health survey that collected demographic information on musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, and neurological conditions that retired players had experienced playing football. A follow up general health survey was given in 2010, but the participants were blinded to their response of the 2001 general health survey that had completed. The general health survey former NFL players participated in defined concussion as an injury resulting from a blow to the head followed by multiple symptoms that might have included dizziness, headaches, loss of balance, slowed down, memory problems and concentration. The 9 year risk of depression increased with a high number of self-reported concussions. The research of this article stated that NFL players self-reporting concussions are at a higher risk of being depressed later on in life.  

References

1. Kerr, Y., Zachary et al (list out all authors on references). Nine-Year Risk of Depression Diagnosis Increases With Increasing Self-Reported Concussions in Retired Professional Football Players. The American Journal of Sports Medicine Vol. XX No.X. August 24, 2012. DOI: 10.1177/0363546512456193 (alphabetical order; XYZ, Kerr, Y., before Kerr, Z.)
2. Kerr, Z. (2012, August 24). Nine-year risk of depression diagnosis increases with increasing self-reported concussions in retired professional football players.