JAMA study finds increased dementia risk among the soccer players

A new study published in Journal of American Medical Association showed that the former soccer professionals had comparable or reduced risk of possibly modifiable risk factors for dementia when compared to general population controls.

Contact at the elite level participation in sports is linked to a higher risk of dementia, which might be caused by recurrent head impact exposure and traumatic brain damage. Yet, it is unclear how much wider, perhaps changeable, dementia risk variables contribute. So, this study was set to investigate the relationship between dementia risk among former professional soccer players and possibly modifiable dementia risk variables.

Male former professional soccer players who were 30 years of age or older on December 31, 2020, and general population control individuals matched by sex, year of birth, and area socioeconomic status were included in this retrospective cohort study. This was attained with linked electronic health records to national electronic datasets of general and mental health hospital inpatient and day-case admissions, prescribing information, and death certification in Scotland.

The data analysis took place between January 16, 2023, and July 8, 2024, with database interrogation taking place on November 30, 2021. Electronic health records with codes for smoking, depression, alcohol-related diseases, diabetes, hypertension, hearing loss, and obesity were the primary source of exposure. Among former soccer players and matched controls, the prevalence of dementia risk variables and their correlation with incident dementia diagnoses were assessed and contrasted.

There were 35,952 matched controls and 11,984 male former professional soccer players in the final cohort. A total of 434 former soccer players (3.62%) and 453 matched population controls (1.26%) were diagnosed with dementia throughout a total of 1,039,848 years of follow-up, which included a median of 21 years from study admission at age 30 or older.

When comparing former soccer players to matched controls, rates of general health and lifestyle dementia risk variables were either the same or lower. The dementia risk of soccer players was comparable to or less than that of controls when these characteristics were taken into account. Overall, to minimize the risk of dementia, this study offers more evidence in favor of policies that limit exposure to traumatic brain injuries and repetitive head impacts in contact sports.

Reference:

Russell, E. R., Lyall, D. M., Mackay, D. F., Cronin, K., Stewart, K., MacLean, J. A., Pell, J. P., & Stewart, W. (2024). Health and Lifestyle Factors and Dementia Risk Among Former Professional Soccer Players. In JAMA Network Open (Vol. 7, Issue 12, p. e2449742). American Medical Association (AMA). https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.49742