The study examined 19,824 athletes who played at least one professional NFL game and made their debut between 1960 and 2019. Investigators used career records, information on position and appearances, and National Death Index data to examine causes of death among the 1,994 players who had died. The results were published in eClinicalMedicine.
Among the deceased players, 178 died of neurodegenerative disease: 106 from dementia, 39 from Parkinson’s disease, and 33 from ALS. Overall neurodegenerative mortality was four times higher than in the general population. Dementia mortality was about 3.8 times higher and Parkinson’s mortality about 3.88 times higher.
Researchers found links with career length and position. Players who stayed in the NFL more than five years had double the risk compared with those who played one to four seasons. Players in speed positions showed twice the dementia rate of non-speed players. The authors noted lower deaths from cancer and cardiovascular disease, likely tied to fitness, regular exercise, access to medical care, and a selection-through-athletic-resilience-survivor (STARS) effect. A senior coauthor said the increase is large and that CTE studies likely explain much of the risk.
Difficult words
- neurodegenerative — Disease that slowly damages the nervous system
- mortality — Number of deaths in a group or population
- deceased — People who have died; not alive anymore
- dementia — A brain condition causing memory and thinking problems
- career length — How long someone's professional playing career lasts
- cardiovascular — Related to the heart and blood vessels
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Discussion questions
- How might the finding that longer NFL careers raise risk affect a player's decision about how long to play?
- What steps could teams or leagues take to try to reduce long-term brain disease risk for players?
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