Chronic trauma in sports as a cause of hypopituitarism.

TBI is one of the most important public health problems in the world. Although the relationship between TBI and hypopituitarism has been known for a long time, neuroendocrine changes were investigated in detail recently. The prevalence of neuroendocrine abnormalities in patients with TBI is very high. Gonadotropin and GH deficiencies appear to be the most common defects. Although combative sports are very popular around the world, trauma due to sports is not generally considered as a cause of TBI in most of the epidemiological studies. All the studies regarding TBI in sports published so far in the literature based on neuropshycological or radiological assessment and no neuroendocrine changes were investigated. In a recent study, pituitary functions in amateur boxers have been investigated and it has been reported that boxing is a cause of TBI and isolated GH deficiency is very common among amateur boxers. It seems that acute or chronic head trauma in sports is a possible cause of hypopituitarism. In this review, current data regarding TBI in sports are discussed.