NAS, Investigate NFL's Significant Underreporting of Player Concussions
- by: Susan V
- recipient: National Academy of Sciences
In 1994, the National Football League formed a commission to address concerns over players disabled by concussions. But now an investigation by the New York Times has found the League’s research seriously flawed .
According to the Times, the NFL had claimed that its research “was based on a full accounting of all concussions diagnosed by team physicians from 1996 through 2001.” However, the Times obtained “confidential data” which “shows that more than 100 diagnosed concussions were omitted from the studies — including some severe injuries to stars like quarterbacks Steve Young and Troy Aikman.”
Those substantial omissions led the committee to conclude that concussions during play occurred less frequently then they actually did.
Most disturbing is that the league used its erroneous research, which the Times says “was published in 13 peer-reviewed articles,” to back its claim that brain injuries were not causing long-term harm to NFL players.
NFL players have a right to know the true risk of their job, and this information is also vitally relevant to the millions who suffer head injuries. But there are too many concerns about NFL committee members' conflicts of interest and dishonesty to now trust the league to correct its research.
Sign this petition to urge the National Academies of Sciences to review the report (including the omitted cases) and provide actionable recommendations to the NFL to reduce concussions.
To the National Academy of Sciences, Medicine division:
As one who is believes football players, at all levels and ages, have a right to know the risks of playing the game under current rules and one who believes there is more need for support of those who suffer brain injuries, I am writing to ask the Academy to get the facts straight about the concussion risks involved in playing football.
[Your Comments]
According to the CDC, “traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of death and disability in the United States, contributing to about 30% of all injury deaths.” While most TBIs are caused by accidents, particularly falls, NFL concussions are NOT accidents, and we now know, because of the New York Times investigation, that the NFL has underreported the number of brain injuries that have occurred playing football within its league.
Furthermore, the Times investigation reveals that the NFL, in addition to underreporting the number of diagnosed concussions, contradicted, when it was asked about the omissions, what the committee had stated in its documents. According to the Times, when questioned, officials stated that “'the clubs were not required to submit their data and not every club did.’”
However, adds the report “’in confidential peer-review documents, the committee wrote that “all N.F.L. teams participated” and that “all players were therefore part of this study.'”
The Times found that most teams failed to report all of their players’ concussions.
Over all, at least 10 percent of head injuries diagnosed by team doctors were missing from the study, including two sustained by Jets receiver Wayne Chrebet, who retired several years later after more concussions. Dr. Pellman, the Jets’ physician, led the research and was the lead author on every paper.
It’s not surprising that NFL’s downplaying risks of football concussions reminds many of how the tobacco industry did the same regarding smoking, since, as the Times reveals, the two businesses have shared “lobbyists, lawyers and consultants” and have other ties as well.
All the evidence now questioning the validity of the NFL committee’s research points to the need for an independent investigation. The prevalence and often debilitating and devastating effects of brain injuries, particularly multiple concussions that result in symptoms associated with CTE, warrant an independent investigation by our most qualified medical researchers, and the growing concerns over how to prevent concussions among football players necessitate the Academy’s intervention on this important issue.
Therefore I, the undersigned, urge the Academy of Sciences to conduct a thorough investigation of the NFL committee‘s research, including the 100 cases and perhaps others that were omitted, and provide actionable recommendations to the NFL to reduce concussions.
Thanks for your time.
[Your Name]
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