Footballing link to brain disease risk

Study: Alzheimer’ s five times higher

Former footballers are around three-and-a-half times more likely to die from neurodegenerative disease than the general population, according to a new report.

The study, commissioned by the Football Association (FA) and Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), assessed the medical records of 7,676 men who played professional football in Scotland between 1900 and 1976.

Their records were matched against more than 23,000 individuals from the general population in a study led by consultant neuropathologist Dr

Willie Stewart of Glasgow University.

His findings report that the “risk ranged from a five-fold increase in Alzheimer’s disease, through an approximately four-fold increase in motor neurone disease, to a twofold Parkinson’s disease in former professional footballers compared to population controls”.

Although footballers had higher risk of death from neurodegenerative disease, they were less likely to die of heart disease and some cancers, including lung.

The study, Football’s Influence on Lifelong Health and Dementia Risk (Field), found that deaths in ex-footballers were lower than expected up to age 70, and higher than expected over that age.

Dr Stewart 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.

“While 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.”

PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor said it was “incumbent on football globally to come together to address this issue”.

He added: “Research must continue to answer more specific questions about what needs to be done to identify and reduce risk factors.”

The exact cause of the increased rates of dementia is unclear.

The FA said: “The study does not determine whether the cause is due to concussions suffered by the group of professional footballers, or concussion management, or heading of the football, or style of play, or the design and composition of footballs over the years, or personal lifestyle, or some other factor.”

It said more research is needed and there is “not enough evidence at this stage to make other changes to the way the modern-day game is played”.

RESEARCH: FA chairman Greg Clarke says there are still many questions to be answered following the study