Jury still out
Commenting on the study, Howard Liu, MD, chair of the University of Nebraska Medical Center department of psychiatry and incoming chair of the APA’s Council on Communications, said the jury “is clearly still out” when it comes to the investigation of brain impacts.
Dr. Howard Liu
“We don’t know quite what these changes fully correlate to,” said Dr. Liu, who moderated a press briefing highlighting the study.
He underlined the importance of protecting athletes vulnerable to head trauma, be they professionals or those involved at the youth sports level.
Dr. Liu also noted the “extreme popularity” and rapid growth of MMA around the world, which he said provides an opportunity for researchers to study these professional fighters.
“This is a unique population that signed up in the midst of hundreds of hours of sparring to advance neuroscience, and that’s quite amazing,” he said.
A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.