Research on a link between playing in the NFL and dying from certain degenerative brain diseases received extensive coverage in print, online, and on the national broadcast news.

ABC World News (9/5, story 7, 1:50, Muir) reported, “Now, with football season here, a troubling new report tonight, we’ve long heard about the link between football and head injuries, concussions and tonight a new study finds the risks are even greater than we imagined — Alzheimer’s, Lou Gehrig’s Disease — a startling new reality check just as the season kicks off.”

The CBS Evening News (9/5, story 6, 2:45, Pelley) reported that the research, published “in the medical journal ‘Neurology,’ looks at what a career of collisions can do to the brain.”

USA Today (9/6, Lloyd, Mihoces) reports that the “study finds retired football players are three to four times more likely to die from diseases of the brain compared with the general population.” USA Today points out, “The NFL, which on Wednesday announced it had pledged $30 million for medical research to the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, points to the steps it has taken in response to concerns about head injuries.”

The AP (9/6) reports, “NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said the research could benefit athletes and potential areas of study may include CTE, concussion management and treatment and disorders from later in life such as Alzheimer’s.”

The New York Times (9/6, Tierney) “The Fifth Down” blog reports, “The findings were based on a review of death certificates by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” Researchers found that, “of the 334 player deaths prior to 2008 that were inspected, Alzheimer’s was an underlying or contributing factor in seven and Lou Gehrig’s disease, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, in seven others. The rate for the general population is two in each category.”

Related Links:

— “Study Finds Increased Risks for N.F.L. Players, “Mike Tierney, The New York Times, September 6, 2012.

USA Today (9/6, Zoroya) reports there “is emerging evidence that” American’s newest combat veterans “appear to be growing old before their time,” with former troops in their 20s and 30s showing “early signs of heart disease and diabetes, slowed metabolisms and obesity — maladies more common to middle age or later.” If this is early aging, scientists say it won’t be proven “until they can study these veterans over the next few years.” Still, “scientists with the Department of Veterans Affairs are rushing to understand” the research, which suggests the condition is “most common to those with both blast-related concussion and PTSD.” Scientists suggest that “early aging might stem from the nature of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, where troops served long and repeated deployments at an unprecedented rate.”

Related Links:

— “War might be making young bodies old, “Gregg Zoroya, USA Today, September 6, 2012.

In continuing coverage, American Medical News (9/4, Krupa) reports on the recent study which found nearly half of doctors suffer from at least one symptom of burnout. The article explains, “The many rigors and stresses of medical practice mean that physicians experience burnout at higher rates than the general population. They work an average of 10 hours more per week and are nearly twice as likely to be dissatisfied with their work-life balance, according to an Archives of Internal Medicine study published online Aug. 20.”

Related Links:

— “Nearly half of physicians struggle with burnout, “Carolyne Krupa, American Medical News, September 3, 2012.

The CNN (9/4, Landau) “The Chart” blog reports that a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences “found the brains of soldiers who go into combat show impairment in function and structure upon returning, but that these effects largely go away over time.” Investigators looked at 33 Dutch soldiers who had been deployed to Afghanistan, and compared them to 26 soldiers who were not deployed. The researchers found that “the combat group showed reduced functioning in the midbrain, as well as structural differences in that area” Additionally, deployed soldiers generally performed worse on cognitive function tests. However, “a year and a half later, researchers found that the soldiers who had been deployed had, on average, returned to normal with respect to both brain structure and cognitive performance.” Nonetheless, imaging tests indicated that certain regions of the brains of deployed solders still had reduced connectivity.

Related Links:

— “Stress may harm brain – but it recovers, “Elizabeth Landau, CNN Health, September 3, 2012.

The New York Times (9/4, O’Connor) “Well” blog reports, “Research published [online] on Monday in Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine shows that children with autism spectrum disorders, who typically have difficulty in communicating and forming relationships, are far more likely to be bullied than their” peers without autism. The study “data, collected from a nationally representative sample of 920 middle- and high-school students with an autism disorder, shows that 46 percent have been bullied.” In contrast, “in the general adolescent population, an estimated 10.6 percent of children have been bullied.”

HealthDay (9/4, Reinberg) reports, “Some of the most common factors of the victims of bullying included having attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), poor social skills and taking more general education classes,” the study also found. Reuters (9/4, Seaman) also covers the story.

Related Links:

— “School Bullies Prey on Children With Autism, “Anahad O’Connor, New York Times, September 3, 2012.