[johnnyo53]

[quote author=oldalum link=topic=17092.msg196075#msg196075 date=1501173897]
absolutely not a representative sample, but I don't care if the true prevalence is as low as 1%, that would be unacceptably high IMO.  I also don't think this is "OT"  :) this is critical to college football in general and to the health of our student athletes specifically!

Yes, exactly.  While not a representative sample by any means, the denominator of all people who have played NFL football is not that large.  That 100+ NFL players all had evidence of CTE in their brains means that even if zero of the former NFL players who did not donate their brains would have had evidence of CTE, that's still a substantial numerator.


THERE ARE MANY PROBLEMS IN ASSESSING THE BASELINE INCIDENCE OF CTE IN THE GENPOP AS ONE OF THE DOCTORS WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE RESEARCH TOLD ME, AND SHE ADMITTED IT HADN'T EVEN BEEN STUDIED ON A LARGE SCALE.  ADDITIONALLY, HOW ARE WE TO REALLY KNOW HOW MANY OF THE PROBLEMS STARTED EARLIER THAN EVEN COLLEGE PARTICIPATION?  OR WHAT THE COMBINATION OF RISK FACTORS  MAY CONTRIBUTE TO ACCELERATING OR MULTIPLYING THE PHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGES THAT OCCUR IN CTE?  JIM MCMAHON IS AN EXAMPLE OF A GUY WHO HAD CONCUSSIVE HISTORY, BUT HE ALSO "SELF MEDICATED" WITH A LARGE VARIETY OF SUBSTANCES. 
Of course pathological evidence of CTE doesn't necessarily mean it was symptomatic/clinically significant, though, as noted most of the players who donated had some sort of symptoms (though those may or may not have had anything to do with CTE).

BC
[/quote]

[johnnyo53]

[quote author=oldalum link=topic=17092.msg196075#msg196075 date=1501173897]
absolutely not a representative sample, but I don't care if the true prevalence is as low as 1%, that would be unacceptably high IMO.  I also don't think this is "OT"  :) this is critical to college football in general and to the health of our student athletes specifically!

Yes, exactly.  While not a representative sample by any means, the denominator of all people who have played NFL football is not that large.  That 100+ NFL players all had evidence of CTE in their brains means that even if zero of the former NFL players who did not donate their brains would have had evidence of CTE, that's still a substantial numerator.


THERE ARE MANY PROBLEMS IN ASSESSING THE BASELINE INCIDENCE OF CTE IN THE GENPOP AS ONE OF THE DOCTORS WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE RESEARCH TOLD ME, AND SHE ADMITTED IT HADN'T EVEN BEEN STUDIED ON A LARGE SCALE.  ADDITIONALLY, HOW ARE WE TO REALLY KNOW HOW MANY OF THE PROBLEMS STARTED EARLIER THAN EVEN COLLEGE PARTICIPATION?  OR WHAT THE COMBINATION OF RISK FACTORS  MAY CONTRIBUTE TO ACCELERATING OR MULTIPLYING THE PHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGES THAT OCCUR IN CTE?  JIM MCMAHON IS AN EXAMPLE OF A GUY WHO HAD CONCUSSIVE HISTORY, BUT HE ALSO "SELF MEDICATED" WITH A LARGE VARIETY OF SUBSTANCES. 
Of course pathological evidence of CTE doesn't necessarily mean it was symptomatic/clinically significant, though, as noted most of the players who donated had some sort of symptoms (though those may or may not have had anything to do with CTE).

BC
[/quote]