Late Australian footballer Heather Anderson first diagnosed case of CTE brain trauma in a female athlete | Health

Australian researchers have for the first time diagnosed a female athlete with persistent traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a progressive degenerative brain illness brought on by repeated head accidents, in a discovering which may have main implications for girls’s sport.

The Australian guidelines footballer and Adelaide premiership participant Heather Anderson died in November 2022 on the age of 28, along with her surprising loss of life the topic of an ongoing coronial investigation.

Anderson, who was additionally a medic in the Australian defence pressure, performed rugby league after which Australian guidelines soccer throughout her contact sports activities profession, which started at age 5 and spanned 18 years.

Her mom insisted that she put on a helmet throughout video games as a result of danger of concussions.

“She hated watching me get smashed,” Anderson instructed media outlet Mamamia in 2017.

Anderson’s household donated her brain to the Australian Sports Brain Bank hoping to higher perceive why she died. The findings from the ASBB researchers, revealed on Tuesday in the medical journal Acta Neuropathologica, describe the examination of her brain and neuropathological findings that fulfils present diagnostic standards for low-stage CTE.

A chunk by the authors of the paper, revealed by The Conversation, mentioned: “She is the first female athlete diagnosed with CTE, but she will not be the last.

“Although Australian women have historically been excluded from the sports most associated with repeated head injuries, this is changing,” the authors wrote. “In 2022, there were almost one million women and girls playing some form of contact sport in Australia. As women’s participation in contact sport continues to grow, so too does their risk of repetitive brain trauma.”

Due to the circumstances surrounding Anderson’s loss of life, her father wrote in a Facebook publish on the time that it’s suspected she died by suicide. “The response to the news of Heather taking her own life has shown us that she had friends, teammates, and fellow soldiers all across the country,” he wrote.

The examine of her brain was led by affiliate professor Catherine Suter, the ASBB chief scientist. In the analysis paper, she and her co-authors wrote: “While there are insufficient data to draw conclusions on any association between CTE and manner of death, suicide deaths are not uncommon in the cohorts where CTE is sought at autopsy.”

Paper co-author Dr Michael Buckland mentioned there have been “multiple CTE lesions as well as abnormalities nearly everywhere I looked in her cortex”.

“It was indistinguishable from the dozens of male cases I’ve seen,” he mentioned. “I want to thank the Anderson family for generously donating Heather’s brain and hope more families follow in their footsteps so we can advance the science to help future athletes.”

To date, there have solely been a handful of CTE instances reported in ladies, and none have been former athletes.

Dr. Chris Nowinski, the CEO of the Concussion Legacy Foundation which co-founded the ASBB, mentioned; “The first case of CTE in a female athlete should be a wakeup call for women’s sports.

“We can prevent CTE by preventing repeated impacts to the head, and we must begin a dialogue with leaders in women’s sports today so we can save future generations of female athletes from suffering.”

He mentioned as ladies’s participation in contact sports activities grows, and as former contact sports activities athletes age, researchers anticipate extra female athletes will likely be diagnosed with CTE.

• Readers in search of help and details about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14; Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467; or for details about CTE help go to CLFHelpline.org.