Education offers some protection against cognitive function loss?
“With those with more education, even though they show the same MRI findings, they do better on the cognitive tests with the same image on the brain.”
The leading USA based promotions in combat sports, UFC and Bellator, GoldenBoy and Top Rank, have funded the Fighters Brain Health Study at the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas. 298 boxers, 202 MMA fighters, and 40 athletes from other combat sports have been studied, as well as a control group of 82 lay people. In all, some 622 people are being tracked over time.
The study is being led by Dr. Charles Bernick, who recently conducted an extensive interview with Kevin Iole for Yahoo Sports.
The research is preliminary, and Bernick has not concluded that MMA is safer than boxing, or that either or both of them are safer than football, which Bernick is also studying. The doctor has however identified a one apparent factor – level of education. The same phenomenon has been observed in Alzheimer’s Disease – patients with more education appear to have a degree of protection. The idea is that with increased education, more connections in your brain are formed. As those connections get beat out of you, athletes with an education have a greater reserve, and thus take longer to show symptoms.
We’ve been able to create a formula based on fights, the number of times they fight per year and age to determine who is most likely to have impairment, Bernick said. As you might imagine, boxers generally have more findings over the same amount of exposure.
With those [fighters] with more education, even though they show the same MRI findings, they do better on the cognitive tests with the same image on the brain. It may be they have a higher reserve, or they started out with a higher number, and it just takes longer [for them to become impaired].
My own sense of it, frankly, is that a lot of it is exposure. So, if you’re a football player and you’re not leading with your head and you’re in a position where you’re not going hit [in the head] a lot, it’s probably not too bad. It’s the same with a fighter. If you’re more of a boxer and careful about keeping your head out of the way, you may be fine.
We’re not saying [MMA] is safer than boxing. We’re not saying it’s safer than anything. But I think any time you get hit, there’s a risk, whether it’s soccer or whatever. We’re just saying that given the same amount of fights, or exposure, the MMA guys have less findings.
That’s what we’re saying. I’m not saying one sport is safer than another.
What he is saying is that getting hit in the head is bad for you, and the less it happens, the better off you are. And go to school.
This is sound advice.
