ROCHESTER, N.Y. — According to the latest report released by the Boston University CTE Center, studies found that out of the 376 former National Football League players observed, nearly 92% were diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.

“I understand why people are alarmed,” said Jeff Bazarian, professor of emergency medicine and neurology at the University of Rochester.

CTE is a form of neurodegeneration that can only be diagnosed through an autopsy of the brain and mainly impacts individuals susceptible to repetitive head injury.

“So when you see a paper like this that says 92% of ex-NFL players had CTE, you have to keep in mind that these are players that donated their brain to a brain bank like Boston Unviersity,” Bazarian said. “So it’s not every player.”

Bazarian points out that the study only reflects a subset of the general population.

“What happens to this group of NFL players that were autopsied may not necessarily be generalizable to a 13-year-old playing here in Rochester,” he said.

The NFL has taken precautions to reduce the number of head injuries, such as producing sturdier equipment for players. But one crucial question remains difficult to answer.

"How many hits is too many hits? Nobody really knows that,” Bazarian said. “I think there are scientists working on that, but it’s an underfunded idea.”

The National Institute of Health recently released an official statement acknowledging a link between repetitive health hits and CTE. Bavarian says that the next step is continuing that research in an effort to monitor brains during sports.

“So that we can understand when there’s some level of injury and then figure out what we can do to prevent that from becoming an issue further down the line,” Bazarian said.