Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE)

The Senate Community Affairs References Committee report into concussions and repeated head trauma in contact sports September 2023. Browse the report by chapter or download the whole report.

23 interviews were conducted with family members over three days at a Concussion Legacy Foundation event. The outcome demonstrates the challenges faced by both those living with diseases of the brain, such as CTE, and their carers, This article is also available as an audio file.

Preprint (2021)
Rowena E. A. Mobbs, Jennifer Batchelor, Alessandra K. Teunisse, Ellen Erskine, Eamon Brown, Joshua Hood, Anthony E. Mobbs, Clare L. Fraser, Alan J. Pearce, Richard Stevenson, Roy G. Beran, Anna Miskovic-Wheatley, Karina Chan, Alicia Ching Mun Foo, Reidar Lystad
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) has been identified at post-mortem in Australian football codes players. Detailed and objective clinical and radiological characterization of patients at-risk of sporting and non-sporting repetitive concussive and subconcussive traumatic brain injury (RC/SCI) is important to our understanding of traumatic encephalopathy syndrome (TES) and CTE. This paper presents the initial findings of the symptomatology, neurocognitive, and pathophysiological changes in CTE (SNAP-CTE) study.

Lee, E.B., Kinch, K., Johnson, V.E. et al. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a common co-morbidity, but less frequent primary dementia in former soccer and rugby players. Acta Neuropathol 138, 389–399 (2019)
There is growing concern over the association between exposure to traumatic brain injury (TBI) and increased risk of a variety of neuropsychiatric and neurocognitive outcomes, in particular those linked to a specific neurodegenerative pathology known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)

Shively S, Scher AI, Perl DP, Diaz-Arrastia R. Dementia Resulting From Traumatic Brain Injury: What Is the pathology? Arch Neurol. 2012;69(10):1245–1251.
It has been observed for many years that multiple mild TBIs as experienced by professional boxers are associated with a high risk of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a type of dementia with distinctive clinical and pathologic features. The recent recognition that CTE is common in retired professional football and hockey players has rekindled interest in this condition, as has the recognition that military personnel also experience high rates of mild TBIs and may have a similar syndrome.

Concussion Legacy Foundation website
Includes information about Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE)

Memory and Ageing Centre - University of California

Connecters Australia supports people living with CTE and their loved ones.

The Center conducts high-impact, innovative research on chronic traumatic encephalopathy and other long-term consequences of repetitive brain trauma in athletes and military personnel.

Alzheimer's Association (US)
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a brain condition associated with repeated blows to the head. It is also associated with the development of dementia. Potential signs of CTE are problems with thinking and memory, personality changes, and behavioral changes including aggression and depression. People may not experience potential signs of CTE until years or decades after brain injuries occur.

Comprehensive information covering symptoms, causes and diagnosis.

Link to listed published research

Our mission is to understand CTE, a younger-onset dementia, with the aim of creating precision medicine approaches, transformative research, and community translation programs that will benefit individuals and their families