Multisystem afflictions in former National Football League players
Morris, Timothy P (Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School)
McCracken, C. (Harvard Medical School)
Baggish, Aaron (Harvard Medical School)
Weisskopf, M. (Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health)
Zafonte, Ross. (Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital)
Taylor, H. A. (Morehouse School of Medicine)
Nadler, L. M. (Harvard Medical School)
Speizer, F. E. (Brigham and Women's Hospital (Boston, Estats Units d'Amèrica))
Pascual Leone, Álvaro (Institut Germans Trias i Pujol. Institut Guttmann)
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Date:	2019
Abstract:	Background: The long-term health consequences of participation in American style football (ASF) are not well understood. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of men who had played in the NFL after 1960. Participants were studied using a standardized self-administered questionnaire designed to determine both the exposure history to ASF and the prevalence of chronic pain, sleep apnea, cardiometabolic disease, and neurocognitive impairment. Logistic regression and negative binomial regression models were used to assess associations between age, ethnicity, body-mass index during professional football career, field position, and football career duration with individual and multiple afflictions. Results: In this cohort of former NFL players (n = 3745), approximately one quarter of the eligible former players (27%) reported two or more medical afflictions (chronic pain, cardiometabolic disease, sleep apnea, or neurocognitive impairment). Career duration was significantly associated with an increase in the number of comorbidities. Age, race, and body-mass index were associated with all affliction categories, other than neurocognitive impairment, which was similarly prevalent in middle-aged players and older players. Earlier age when first playing the sport was protective against cardiometabolic affliction. Conclusions: Former NFL players report significant combinations of cross-system afflictions. Future work will be required to determine mechanistic underpinnings. However, attention to the whole player, rather than specific organ systems seems critical to improve long-term health outcomes in former ASF professional athletes.
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, i la comunicació pública de l'obra, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. No es permet la creació d'obres derivades.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Aging athlete ; Epidemiology ; Football (American) ; Medical aspects of sport
Published in:	American Journal of Industrial Medicine, Vol. 62 Núm. 8 (august 2019) , p. 655-662, ISSN 1097-0274

DOI: 10.1002/ajim.22992
PMID: 31134638

8 p, 669.3 KB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Health sciences and biosciences > Institut d'Investigació en Ciencies de la Salut Germans Trias i Pujol (IGTP)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles