Mortality in former Olympic athletes: retrospective cohort analysis

Abstract

Objective To assess the mortality risk in subsequent years (adjusted for year of birth, nationality, and sex) of former Olympic athletes from disciplines with different levels of exercise intensity.Design Retrospective cohort study. Setting Former Olympic athletes.Participants 9889 athletes (with a known age at death) who participated in the Olympic Games between 1896 and 1936, representing 43 types of disciplines with different levels of cardiovascular, static, and dynamic intensity exercise; high or low risk of bodily collision; and different levels of physical contact. Main outcome measure All cause mortality.Results Hazard ratios for mortality among athletes from disciplines with moderate cardiovascular intensity (1.01, 95% confidence interval 0.96 to 1.07) or high cardiovascular intensity (0.98, 0.92 to 1.04) were similar to those in athletes from disciplines with low cardiovascular intensity. The underlying static and dynamic components in exercise intensity showed similar non-significant results. Increased mortality was seen among athletes from disciplines with a high risk of bodily collision (hazard ratio 1.11, 1.06 to 1.15) and with high levels of physical contact (1.16, 1.11 to 1.22). In a multivariate analysis, the effect of high cardiovascular intensity remained similar (hazard ratio 1.05, 0.89 to 1.25); the increased mortality associated with high physical contact persisted (hazard ratio 1.13, 1.06 to 1.21), but that for bodily collision became non-significant (1.03, 0.98 to 1.09) as a consequence of its close relation with physical contact.Conclusions Among former Olympic athletes, engagement in disciplines with high intensity exercise did not bring a survival benefit compared with disciplines with low intensity exercise. Those who engaged in disciplines with high levels of physical contact had higher mortality than other Olympians later in life.

Exercise and Health: Dose and Response, Considering Both Ends of the Curve

“…mortality rates that were similar to those of athletes whose events (such as golf and cricket) did not require intense cardiovascular training (38). Olympic medalists in endurance events had a survival of advantage over medalists in power events (39).…”

Prevalent Morphometric Vertebral Fractures in Professional Male Rugby Players

“…A recent study reported an 11% increased risk of mortality among Olympic athletes from contact sports compared with other athletes [41]. The authors suggest their finding reflects the impact of repeated collisions over time and hypothesised that the risk may be underestimated for the current generation [41].…”

What future for older women ex-athletes?

“…11 Finally, and perhaps most surprisingly, athletes who trained to a very high cardiovascular intensity, such as rowing or cycling, did not live longer than comparable athletes from a lower intensity disciplines. 12 Further to this, the same study found that those involved in sports with high collision rates or contact sports have a higher mortality rate which appeared to persist after the age of 50 years.…”