Scottish rugby players 2.5x more likely to develop dementia, study finds

Scientists are warning that changes must be introduced in rugby, to stop players from developing dementia.

Research shows players, whether they compete at an amateur or elite level, are two and a half times more likely to develop brain diseases than first thought.

The landmark international study also identified a link between career length and the risk of developing a degenerative brain condition, named chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

Leading neuropathologists are now calling on sports regulators to do more to protect players.

Recommendations include reducing the frequency of competitive games and minimising head contact and trauma.

What is CTE?

CTE is a degenerative brain condition which has been shown to be, at least in part, a result of exposure to repeated head impacts and head injuries.

Over the past decade or so, there have been increasing reports of the unique pathology of CTE following postmortem examination of the brains of former contact sports participants, including football, American football, boxing and rugby.

What are the findings?

The risk of CTE pathology was associated with the length of a player’s rugby career, with each additional year of play adding 14% to their risk of developing CTE.

Player position or level of participation, either amateur or elite, did not appear to influence risk of CTE.

Among sports, rugby union is known to have a high risk of mild traumatic brain injury (concussion), with injury rates highest in the professional game.

To date, the only recognised risk factor for CTE is traumatic brain injury and repeated head impact exposure.

Calls to sports regulators

Neuropathologist and Professor, Willie Stewart, said: “In this study, we have combined the experience and expertise of three leading international brain banks to look at CTE in former rugby players.

“These results provide new evidence regarding the association between rugby union participation and CTE.

"Specifically, our data show risk is linked to length of rugby career, with every extra year of play increasing risk.

"Based on this it is imperative that the sport's regulators reduce exposure to repeated head impacts in match play and in training to reduce risk of this otherwise preventable contact sport-related neurodegenerative disease.”

'We have been doing work for many years'

Scottish Rugby’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr James Robson said: “We welcome this new study which will further help our understanding of head impacts in rugby and other sports.

"It is timely and supports the important conversations currently underway around the volume of player activity, with the aim of reducing the number of head contacts in our game.

“We have being doing work for many years on player welfare and taken practical steps this season to make the community game safer by lowering the tackle height to reduce the risk to players and combined this with launch of a new online concussion education course, digital concussion hub and Player Welfare Action Plan for coaches, players and parents to access to ensure we all focus on enjoying rugby safely.”

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