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Hockey players' chances of developing concussion-related brain injury increase with every year they spend on the ice, a new study finds.
The odds of having chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, increase among hockey players 34% for each year played, researchers reported Wednesday in JAMA Network Open.
Results show 18 out of 19 National Hockey League players had CTE, a degenerative brain disease caused by repeated concussions, researchers found.
However, CTE wasn't found in a single hockey player who spent fewer than six years competing, researchers report.
"Ice hockey players with longer careers not only were more likely to have CTE, but they also had more severe disease," said researcher Dr. Jesse Mez, co-director of clinical research at the Boston University CTE Center.
"We hope this data will help inspire changes to make the game safer as well as help former ice hockey players impacted by CTE get the care they need," Mez added in a university news release.
These results make ice hockey the third major sport, after American football and rugby, to show a dose-response relationship between years of play and the risk of developing CTE, the researchers noted.
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