Former professional football players may develop chronic diseases prematurely
Published results showed former professional football players may prematurely develop chronic diseases and have a reduced health span compared with individuals in the general population with similar demographic characteristics.
“While we understand why these conditions might be more prevalent (eg, as the result of orthopedic or head injury), it is noteworthy that the premature occurrence of these illnesses will detrimentally affect players for more years than their non-National Football League peers,” Rachel Grashow, PhD, MS, of Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health and director of epidemiological research initiatives for the Football Players Health Study, told Healio. “Overall, the number of years free from chronic illness is reduced in former players, such that former NFL players lose approximately 10 years of health span.”
Prevalence of chronic disease
Grashow and colleagues compared age-specific, race-standardized and BMI-standardized prevalence ratios of arthritis, dementia/Alzheimer’s disease, hypertension and diabetes between nearly 3,000 early adult and middle-aged male former professional American-style football players and a comparator cohort from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and National Health Interview Survey. Researchers stratified age into 25 to 29 years, 30 to 39 years, 40 to 49 years and 50 to 59 years.
Results showed a direct relation between arthritis and dementia/Alzheimer’s disease with age. Researchers also found arthritis and dementia/Alzheimer’s disease were more prevalent among former American-style football athletes vs. the general population across all age groups, except in individuals aged 25 to 29 years.
However, researchers noted a statistically significant twofold higher prevalence of hypertension among American-style football athletes aged 25 to 29 years, while the prevalence of hypertension was higher among older individuals in the general population. Although former American-style football players aged 25 to 29 years had a significantly higher prevalence of diabetes mellitus, results showed the prevalence estimates were similar between the two groups until ages 50 to 59 years when the prevalence was significantly higher in the general population.
“We found that a number of conditions associated with aging are occurring earlier in former NFL players, including diabetes, hypertension, dementia/Alzheimer’s Disease and arthritis, when compared to American men of the same age, race and BMI,” Grashow said.
Decline in intact health span
Researchers found former American-style football players of all ages had significantly lower prevalence of intact health span compared with the general population except for the youngest age group. Former American-style football players had a decline in prevalent intact health span that appeared to be shifted roughly a decade earlier compared with the general population, according to results. When assessing football players only, researchers noted a significantly diminished health span among linemen vs. non-linemen in all but the 50-to-59-year age group.
“In terms of clinical practice, we hope that this paper motivates physicians and others who provide medical care for former players to proactively screen even young post-career players for these conditions,” Grashow said. “Efforts to prevent and treat the cardiometabolic conditions early in life could have important protective neurological and cardiological implications for later-life health.”
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