Adding to this site’s archives of combative sports safety studies, a study was recently published in the Journal of Neurotrauma suggesting that retired combat sports athletes should be screened for hypopituitarism as “traumatic brain injury induced pituitary dysfunction occurs more frequently than previously estimated“.
The full study is titled Sports Related Repetitive Head Trauma: A Novel Cause of Pituitary Dysfunction and the abstract reads as follows:
Traumatic brain injury is one of the major causes of disability and death particularly in young population. Recent clinical studies have demonstrated that traumatic brain injury induced pituitary dysfunction occurs more frequently than previously estimated and this may contribute to delayed diagnosis and treatment of hormonal abnormalities. Today, the popularity of combative sports increases and athletes who deal with these sports, have risks of developing hypopituitarism due to repetitive head traumas. Pathogenesis and molecular mechanisms are not completely understood yet. Current studies suggest that athletes who had retired especially from combative sports, should be screened for hypopituitarism. In this review, we aim to increase the awareness of medical communities, athletes, coaches and athletic trainers about this issue by sharing the current studies regarding the pituitary dysfunction due to repetitive head trauma associated with sports.
Combat Sports Law 