Junior Seau, a former NFL linebacker, committed suicide in the spring due to a degenerative brain illness caused by repeated head trauma, the National Institutes of Health announced Thursday. The world-renowned intelligent player died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest.
The findings were consistent with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain illness commonly associated with athletes who have suffered repeated hits to the head, according to the National Institutes of Health. Seau is the most recent and well-known athlete to be linked to the disorder, which has plagued sports in recent years as a slew of studies have revealed the potential long-term cognitive impact of on-field head injuries.
“The type of findings seen in Mr. Seau’s brain have been recently reported in autopsies of individuals with exposure to repetitive head injury,” according to the N.I.H., “including professional and amateur athletes who played contact sports, individuals with multiple concussions, and veterans exposed to blast injury and other trauma.”
Since C.T.E. was discovered in the brain of former Eagles defensive back Andre Waters following his suicide in 2006, the disease has been found in practically every former player’s brain analyzed posthumously. (C.T.E. can only be detected after death.
