Study – Fewer Neurological Problems Found in Boxers in Later 20th Century

By EMagraken on September 17, 2024

An interesting study was published this month in the Archives of Neuropsychology breaking reviewing boxing brain trauma studies from the 20th century.

In the study, titled Neurological Problems in Boxers during the 20th Century: a Review and Synthesis, the authors reviewed 45 articles addressing brain trauma in boxers published between 1928-1999. The goal was to see if the symptoms reported match modern criteria for TES (symptoms for suspected CTE in the living). In short the researchers found the symptoms do not align well.

Interestingly the paper separated the research from before 1974 and after 1974. The researchers found that the pool of athletes studied in the later half had fewer reported neurological problems than those in the earlier studies.

The following chart with a breakdown of the percentage of studied athletes reporting various neurological issues was published:

The full abstract reads as follows:

Abstract

Objective

There are no validated clinical diagnostic criteria for chronic traumatic encephalopathy or traumatic encephalopathy syndrome (TES). To understand the historical clinical condition, its applicability to modern day athletes, and the pathogenesis of clinical problems, we examined the literature in boxers from the 20th century, with specific attention to neurological findings and characteristics of clinical disease progression.

Data Selection

Data were extracted for 243 boxers included in 45 articles published between 1928 and 1999, including cases from articles originally published in German. The presence or absence of 22 neurological signs and features were extracted.

Data Synthesis

The most common neurological problems were slurring dysarthria (49%), gait disturbances (44%), and memory loss (36%), with several other problems that were less frequent, including hyperreflexia (25%), ataxia (22%), increased tone (19%), and extensor Babinski sign (16%). Frank dementia appeared in some cases (17%). There were significantly fewer neurological deficits reported in boxers who fought in the latter part of the 20th century compared to boxers who fought earlier in the century. For most cases, there were no comments about whether the neurological problems were progressive (145, 60%). A progressive condition was described in 71 cases (29%) and a stationary or improving condition was described in 27 cases (11%). Canonical neurodegenerative disease-like progression was described in 15 cases (6%).

Conclusions

Neurological problems associated with boxing-related neurotrauma during the 20th century are the foundation for present day TES. However, the clinical signs and features in the 20th century differ in most ways from the modern criteria for TES.