Professional footballers face a significantly increased risk of developing neurodegenerative disease in their old age, according to the findings of the largest study of its kind, published yesterday.
Researchers studied the face of more than 7,000 male footballers from Scotland, born between 1900 and 1976 in the retrospective cohort study.
They found low mortality rates before the age of 70, reflecting the players’ relatively good fitness levels.
Over the age of 70, players were afflicted with neurodegenerative diseases. They were five times as likely as others to develop Alzheimer’s disease, four time as likely to develop motor neurone disease and twice as likely to develop Parkinson’s disease.
The research was backed by the Football Association and the Professional Footballers’ Association Charity. The findings support other studies hinting at chronic injury in the brains of those involved in contact sports.
Researcher Dr Willie Stewart, a consultant neuropathologist based at Glasgow University, said: “An important aspect of this work has been the ability to look across a range of health outcomes in former professional footballers. This allows us to build a more complete picture of health in this population.
“Our data show that while former footballers had higher dementia rates, they had lower rates of death due to other major diseases. As such, whilst every effort must be made to identify the factors contributing to the increased risk of neurodegenerative disease to allow this risk to be reduced, there are also wider potential health benefits of playing football to be considered.”
FA chairman Greg Clarke said: “The whole game must recognise that this is only the start of our understanding and there are many questions that still need to be answered. It is important that the global football family now unites to find the answers and provide a greater understanding of this complex issue.
"The FA is committed to doing all it can to make that happen."
Neurodegenerative Disease Mortality among Former Professional Soccer Players. NEJM 21 October 2019
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