Additionally, the study contrasted the risk of neurodegenerative disease between outfield players and goalkeepers. It was discovered that outfield athletes had a 1,4-fold higher risk of neurodegenerative disease than goalkeepers.
A new study suggests that football players are 1.5 times more likely to develop dementia than the general population.
Between 1924 and 2019, researchers in Sweden compared the health records of 6,007 elite male football players, including 510 goalkeepers, to those of 56,168 non-footballers.
The Karolinska Institutet and other research centers have published their findings in The Lancet, a prestigious peer-reviewed medical journal.
It was discovered that nine percent of the included footballers were diagnosed with neurodegenerative disease, compared to six percent (3,485 out of 56,168) of the control sample.
The study found no significant increase in football players’ risk of developing motor neuron disease.
Football players had lower rates of Parkinson’s disease and mortality than the general community.
The academics who conducted the study hypothesized that this may be “due to maintaining physical fitness by frequently playing football.”
Additionally, the study contrasted the risk of neurodegenerative disease between outfield players and goalkeepers. It was discovered that outfield athletes had a 1,4-fold higher risk of neurodegenerative disease than goalkeepers.
Peter Ueda, assistant professor at Karolinska Institutet, stated, “Unlike outfield players, goalkeepers rarely head the ball, but are exposed to similar environments and lifestyles during their football careers and possibly after retirement.”
This theory may be supported by the difference in neurodegenerative disease risk between these two classes of football players.
Concern has grown over whether football head trauma raises the risk of neurodegenerative disease later in life.
A previous study from Scotland suggested that football players had a 3.5-fold increased risk of neurodegenerative disease.
Based on this data, several football associations reduced heading among younger players and in training.
Mr. Ueda added, “Although the risk increase in our study is slightly smaller than in the previous Scottish study, it confirms that elite footballers have a higher risk of neurodegenerative disease later in life.”
As there are increasing calls from within the sport for greater measures to protect brain health, our study contributes to the limited evidence base and can be used to guide decisions regarding the management of these risks,” the authors write.
In grassroots leagues and tournaments in England, the Football Association is testing a 12-year-old head-ban.
