ATLANTA — Georgia Tech football star Demaryius Thomas, who died in December at the age of 33 of an apparent seizure, was found to have been suffering from the degenerative brain disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.
The announcement was made Tuesday by the Boston University CTE Center, which had received Thomas’ brain from his family. Thomas was diagnosed with CTE stage 2. According to the release, symptoms of a stage-2 diagnosis include impulsivity, depression, executive dysfunction and memory loss. The release also said that Thomas had suffered from daily headaches, chronic pain and vision issues in his 20s, and in his 30s had experienced anxiety, depression, apathy and worsening memory loss.
CTE, which can be diagnosed only posthumously, has been widely linked with the playing of football. In 2019, Boston University researchers found that, because of the game’s pounding and repeated head collisions, “there is a strong relationship between CTE risk and the number of years a person plays football.” At the professional, college and high school levels, concussion protocols have been instituted to protect players.
