The following is Copyright 2012 by National Public Radio. Read the original and listen to the piece at NPR’s website.

A Fan’s Notes On Pro Sports, Brain Damage
By Scott Simon
National Public Radio January 28, 2012

I will watch the Super Bowl next weekend, along with several billion other people. I expect to cheer, shout and have some guacamole.

But as a fan, I’m finding it a little harder to cheer, especially for my favorite football and hockey players, without thinking: They’re hurting themselves.

Not just breaks and sprains but dangerous, disabling brain damage.

Case studies have mounted over the last year. Dave Duerson of the 1985 Super Bowl-winning Bears shot himself in the chest just after the last Super Bowl and left a note: “Please, see that my brain is given to the NFL’s brain bank.”

That’s Boston University’s Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, which determined that Mr. Duerson’s brain had been battered by at least 10 concussions and countless other football hits that may have caused dementia, addiction and depression that led to his death.

Jim McMahon, once the team’s brash quarterback, confided at a 25th reunion that his memory is “pretty much gone.”

“It’s unfortunate what the game does to you,” he said.

The dazzling Walter Payton of that same famous team died of liver disease. But a biography published last year achingly depicts the depression and addictions Mr. Payton suffered during decades of hits: thousands in games, tens of thousands in practice.

Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins is hockey’s greatest star — the skater who scored Canada’s goal over the U.S. to win a Gold Medal at the 2010 Olympic Games.

But Sid the Kid suffered a concussion last January. Who knows when, or if, he’ll play again?

Just a few weeks ago, John Branch of The New York Times wrote a heart-piercing series after 3 NHL “enforcers” — paid brawlers — died within four months last year. He focused on Derek Boogaard of the New York Rangers, who accidentally overdosed on booze and oxycodone at the age of 28.

Boston University’s Center opened Derek Boogaard’s brain and found profound damage.

Chris Nowinski, a center co-director, is a former pro wrestler who loves contact sports. But he went to a Boston Bruins hockey game shortly thereafter and says that when a routine brawl broke out, fans stood and cheered. He couldn’t.

Several former players have filed lawsuits. Sports writers and pundits have called for new rules and equipment, although most studies show new rules and equipment may do little to limit injury while players grow larger, faster, and risk more to sign million-dollar contracts.

I’ll watch the Super Bowl next week with my children and wonder how comfortable we fans can be, sitting and snacking while too many of the players we cheer entertain us and get rich at such terrible cost to themselves.

The ABC News (1/21, James) “Medical Unit” blog reported, “Women younger than 50 who survive breast cancer face an array of quality of life challenges: psychological stress, weight gain and decline in physical activity, according to a study published…in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. They also struggle with reproductive issues such as infertility and early-onset menopause.”

HealthDay (1/21, Preidt) reported that investigators looked at data from 28 studies. The research “revealed that overall quality of life was reduced in” breast cancer patients 50 years of age or less, “and that mental issues were more severe than physical problems, said” the investigators. The researchers “also found that younger breast cancer patients were more depressed than women of the same age without cancer in the general population, or breast cancer patients older than 50.” Meanwhile, “premature menopause, infertility and menopause-related symptoms were more common among patients 50 and younger and contributed to their levels of distress.”

The New York Times (1/20, ED14, Moore, Subscription Publication) reported that “over the past several years recovery programs” for students with substance abuse problems “have been popping up at colleges, large and small, public and private.” Currently, “there are more than 20 programs, with more in the pipeline.”

Modern Healthcare (1/20, Conn, Subscription Publication) writes, “A report from the not-for-profit ECRI Institute, a patient-safety and quality-improvement organization, details social media’s potential as a public-engagement tool for healthcare organizations but warns that risk management is necessary.”

Researchers “found that 41% of roughly 23,000 respondents reported using social media to research healthcare decisions.” Other results include that “most hospitals use social media ‘as an extension of their existing marketing and public relations plans’; physicians use the sites also to market themselves and their practices while often mixing in personal information.”

The report also warned, “A disorganized approach to social media will be obvious to other users and will damage the organization’s credibility and reputation.”

USA Today (1/20, Zoroya, 1.78M) reports, “Army suicide rates declined for the first time in four years in 2011, the result of a complex effort to identify soldiers engaged in risky or self-destructive behavior, according to the outgoing vice chief of staff, Gen. Peter Chiarelli.” USA Today adds, “Suicides among active-duty soldiers and those in the National Guard and Reserve who are not on active duty fell by 9% last year from 305 deaths in 2010 to 278 in 2011.” However, the Army suicide rate, “about 24 per 100,000 last year, remains higher than a similar demographic among civilians, about 19 per 100,000.”

The New York Times (1/20, Bumiller, Subscription Publication, 1.23M) depicts the findings in a different light, saying that “suicides among active-duty soldiers hit another record high in 2011,” while noting “there was a slight decrease if nonmobilized Reserve and National Guard troops were included in the calculation.” Chiarelli also said it is “unacceptable,” that “violent sex crimes” increased “nearly 30 percent.” Chiarelli “said factors driving the increase in sex crimes were alcohol use and new barracks that offered more privacy.”

The CNN (1/20, Shaughnessy) website, meanwhile, reports, “The latest numbers released by Chiarelli during a briefing with reporters Thursday show that active-duty Army suicides were up again in 2011, compared to 2010,” and that “suicides throughout the Army, the Army Reserves and the National Guard, while down in the past year, are still nearly 40% above what they were from 2008, the year before Chiarelli began overseeing the Army suicide prevention effort.” Chiarelli, who “believes that one way to reduce soldier suicides is to get guns away from soldiers who exhibit high-risk behavior,” commented on the numbers, emphasizing, “What I would look at here is the fact that for all practical purposes for the last two to three years,” the numbers have “leveled off.”