IV
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. RES. 72
Expressing support for the designation of January 30, 2025, as CTE (chronic
traumatic encephalopathy) and RHI (repeated head impacts) Awareness Day.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY28, 2025
Mr. F
ITZPATRICK(for himself, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. CLINE,
Ms. B
ROWNLEY, and Mr. RESCHENTHALER) submitted the following res-
olution; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
RESOLUTION
Expressing support for the designation of January 30, 2025,
as CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) and RHI
(repeated head impacts) Awareness Day.
Whereas chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, is a pro-
gressive degenerative brain disease which appears in per-
sons with a history of repeated head injury sustained
over a period of years;
Whereas, after decades of advancement in research related to
repeated head injuries, in October 2022, the National In-
stitutes of Health (NIH) formally acknowledged that
there is a causal link between repeated blows to the head
and CTE;
Whereas repetitive head impacts (RHI) have been shown to
cause damage to the white matter in developing brains;
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•HRES 72 IH
Whereas researchers have found that in brains with CTE,
there is buildup of an abnormal protein, tau, in the brain
leading to brain atrophy;
Whereas tau buildup is also found in Alzheimer’s disease and
other forms of dementia, and people with CTE may show
signs of another neurodegenerative disease, including Alz-
heimer’s, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Lewy body
disease (LBD), and Parkinson’s disease;
Whereas the risk of developing CTE is greatest with athletes
and military veterans, who frequently endure repeated
subconcussive blows to the head from playing contact
sports or suffer traumatic injury from military training
or blasting, but it has also appeared in survivors of do-
mestic abuse and those with epilepsy;
Whereas symptoms associated with CTE and RHI, such as
memory loss, tremors, addiction, progressive dementia,
depression, suicidal thoughts, impaired judgment, and
paranoia, most often are present years or decades after
the brain trauma or hits stop, but have been found in a
patient as young as 17 years old;
Whereas, currently, CTE can only be definitively diagnosed
after death through postmortem neuropathological anal-
ysis;
Whereas advocacy organizations, health care providers, and
institutional researchers are dedicated to studying the
causes and symptoms of CTE in order to enable parents
and families to make informed decisions regarding the
best interests of their children in youth sports and to de-
velop an earlier diagnostic tool so patients may address
these symptoms as early as possible; and
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•HRES 72 IH
Whereas the Patrick Risha CTE Awareness Foundation, the
Chandler Kimball Foundation, the Mac Parkman Foun-
dation, the Matthew Benedict’s One Last Goal founda-
tion, the Zac Easter’s CTE Hope foundation, and many
other organizations celebrate CTE and RHI Awareness
Day across the United States in order to reflect on those
lost to CTE and RHI, how to help those suffering with
the disease, and most importantly how to stop the dis-
ease: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 1
(1) supports the designation of CTE and RHI 2
Awareness Day; 3
(2) recognizes the doctors and researchers who 4
advance the study of CTE (chronic traumatic 5
encephalopathy) and RHI (repeated head impacts), 6
and thanks those who participate in research studies 7
and brain donations; 8
(3) recognizes persons who may be suffering 9
from symptoms of CTE and RHI and their families 10
and caregivers; 11
(4) encourages the Centers for Disease Control 12
and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes 13
of Health (NIH) to publish information on CTE and 14
RHI, in concussion education materials, and educate 15
the public on the symptoms and potential contrib-16
uting factors; and 17
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•HRES 72 IH
(5) encourages the people of the United States 1
to observe the day with appropriate ceremonies and 2
activities that promote awareness of CTE and RHI. 3
Æ
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