Male footballers are 1.6 times more likely to suffer from Alzheimer’s disease or other types of dementia, according to a recent study.
- Football players had a 1.6 times higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias than the control group, with 8% (491 out of 6,007) versus 5% (2,889 out of 56,168).
- Risks were lower for motor neuron disease and lower for Parkinson’s, likely due to maintaining good physical fitness.
- The authors nevertheless acknowledge certain limitations to their study, the results of which could not be generalized to modern football players.
In recent years there have been growing concerns about the long-term health consequences of footballing head injuries, particularly after a Scottish study suggested in 2021 that football players were 3.5 times more likely to develop a neurodegenerative disease. Several football associations have since taken action, for example the English, Scottish and Irish federations which have banned heading the game in training for players under the age of 12.
A new observational study, published on March 16 in the journal The Lancet Public Health, may reinforce these concerns. According to his results, male footballers are 1.5 times more likely to develop a neurodegenerative disease.
Dementia: footballers are more at risk of developing Alzheimer’s
The study used Swedish national health registries to identify neurodegenerative diseases in 6,007 male footballers who had played in the Swedish top division from 1924 to 2019. Of these, 9% (537 out of 6,007) were diagnosed with the disease neurodegenerative, compared to 6% (3,485 out of 56,168) in the control group studied. There were professional players but also amateurs since football clubs in Sweden were not allowed to pay salaries to their players until the late 1960s.
In detail, footballers had a risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias 1.6 times higher than that of the control group, with 8% (491 out of 6,007) against 5% (2,889 out of 56,168). There was no significant increased risk for soccer players about motor neuron disease. The risk of Parkinson’s disease was lower in footballers. Finally, overall mortality was slightly lower in footballers compared to the control group (40% versus 42%).
Maintaining good physical shape could offset the risks
“Although the increased risk in our study is slightly lower than in the previous study in Scotland, it confirms that football players have a greater risk of neurodegenerative disease later in life. As there is growing calls for greater action to protect brain health, our study adds to the limited evidence base and can be used to guide decisions about how to manage these risks.”said the study’s lead author, Peter Ueda, an assistant professor at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, in a communicated.
“The lower overall mortality we observed among football players indicates that their overall health status was better than that of the general population, likely due to maintaining good physical fitness. Physical activity is associated with a lower risk of dementia, so one would assume that the potential risks of head impacts are somewhat offset by good physical fitness. Good physical shape may also be the reason for the lower risk of Parkinson’s disease”adds Björn Pasternak, senior researcher at the Karolinska Institutet.
The authors caution that although 9% of soccer players and 6% of controls were diagnosed with neurodegenerative disease during their study, most participants were still alive at the end of data collection, so the lifetime risks of developing a neurodegenerative disease for both groups are likely to be higher.
Outfield players are more affected by dementia than goalkeepers
The study also compared the risks between field players and goalkeepers: field players would have a risk of neurodegenerative disease 1.4 times higher than that of goalkeepers, for whom the risks are not significantly higher than the control group.
“Goalkeepers rarely have the ball, unlike outfield players, but are exposed to similar environments and lifestyles during their careers. It has been speculated that mild and repetitive head trauma sustained during headshots is the reason why outfield players are at greater risk. And the difference in risk of neurodegenerative disease between these two types of players could support this theory.”says Peter Ueda.
Results could be different for current footballers
The authors nevertheless recognize certain limitations to their study, the results of which could not be generalized to today’s football players. As neurodegenerative diseases usually occur later in life, most of the footballers studied who were old enough to have developed one of these conditions played football in the middle of the 20th century, at a time when the style of play, the umpiring, equipment and balls were different from today and where the risk of head impact and head injuries were potentially greater. The switch from the leather balls of yesteryear (which could soak up water and become heavier) to the synthetic balls of today, for example, may have reduced the risks.
Conversely, the risk may also have been heightened over time as modern footballers train more intensely and at a younger age than before. The study also looked only at male elite soccer players, so the generalizability of the study to female elite players and male and female amateur and junior players is uncertain.
