Study Links Concussions, Depression in NFL

May 31, 01:43 PM

Current Headlines: A University of North Carolina study reported a correlation between concussions sustained by NFL players and diagnosed depression later in life.

The study, by the university's Center for the Study of Retired Athletes, found that 595 of the 2,552 retired NFL players involved in the study reported sustaining three or more concussions and of those, 20.2 percent said they had been diagnosed with depression, The New York Times reported Thursday.

The rate of depression among the players who sustained the injuries was three times the rate of depression among former players who said they hadn't suffered three or more concussions during their tenure with the league.

The study was criticized by the NFL's mild traumatic brain injury committee.

Survey studies are the weakest type of research study -- they're subject to all kinds of error and misinterpretation and miscalculation, Dr. Ira Casson, the co-chairman of the committee, told the Times.

They had no objective evaluations to determine whether or not what the people told them in the surveys was correct or not. They didn't have information from doctors confirming it, they didn't have tests, they didn't have examinations. They didn't have anything. They just kind of took people's words for it.