Healthspan and chronic disease burden among young adult and middle-aged male former American-style professional football players

Abstract

ObjectiveTo examine the relationships between age, healthspan and chronic illness among former professional American-style football (ASF) players.MethodsWe compared age-specific race-standardised and body mass index-standardised prevalence ratios of arthritis, dementia/Alzheimer’s disease, hypertension and diabetes among early adult and middle-aged (range 25–59 years) male former professional ASF players (n=2864) with a comparator cohort from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and National Health Interview Survey, two representative samples of the US general population. Age was stratified into 25–29, 30–39, 40–49 and 50–59 years.ResultsArthritis and dementia/Alzheimer’s disease were more prevalent among ASF players across all study age ranges (all p<0.001). In contrast, hypertension and diabetes were more prevalent among ASF players in the youngest age stratum only (p<0.001 and p<0.01, respectively). ASF players were less likely to demonstrate intact healthspan (ie, absence of chronic disease) than the general population across all age ranges.ConclusionThese data suggest the emergence of a maladaptive early ageing phenotype among former professional ASF players characterised by premature burden of chronic disease and reduced healthspan. Additional study is needed to investigate these findings and their impact on morbidity and mortality in former ASF players and other athlete groups.

Long-term function, body composition and cardiometabolic health in midlife former athletes: a scoping review

“…Former athletes had lower glucose levels than controls. 42 43 51 52 Former athletes also had a lower prevalence of diabetes, 50 hyperglycemia 43 and metabolic syndrome 42 than controls. One study found that former NFL football players had lower high-sensitivity C reactive protein compared with controls.…”

“…Most studies were cross-sectional, evaluated males only, and were conducted in Europe (table 1, online supplemental appendix 2). Nine studies included former athletes from multiple sports with a mix of endurance and team sports,33 42–49 while three studies included only American football50–52 and three studies included only soccer (ie, football) 53–55. Most (12 of 20) studies involved athletes who had competed at national and international competitions, including seven studies on Olympic athletes.…”

“…Most (12 of 20) studies involved athletes who had competed at national and international competitions, including seven studies on Olympic athletes. Five studies included former professional athletes,50–53 56 while only two studies involved former college (ie, National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)) athletes 33 44…”

“…Two studies found that former athletes had a lower prevalence of hypertension,43 44 while another found that former National Football League (NFL) athletes had a higher prevalence of hypertension than controls 50. Several studies found lower systolic blood pressure in former athletes,42 51 58 with physically active54 58 and female43 former athletes having lower values compared with sedentary and male former athletes, respectively.…”

“…Despite noted limitations, the importance of current health practices (ie, physical activity) on current health is clear, highlighting a reality for former athletes: prior engagement in high levels of exercise through elite sport does not provide athletes with lifelong protection for function, body composition and cardiometabolic health. Prior research on long-term cardiovascular health in former athletes has focused heavily on American football players 9 50–52 65. McHugh et al 9 performed a systematic review and meta-analysis on cardiovascular health in male team-sport athletes (ie, American football (12 studies) and soccer (1 study)), finding that some factors (eg, fasting glucose, triglycerides) were better in former athletes whereas others (eg, systolic blood pressure, LDL cholesterol) were better in controls.…”