Higher risk of dementia among professional football players

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They evaluated the health data of 6,000 top players from Sweden’s top league over the past years and compared them with data from a large comparison group from the normal population. The results were published Friday in the journal “Lancet Public Health.”

Accordingly, nine percent of top league players between 1924 and 2019 developed neurodegenerative diseases during their lifetimes to date; that was one and a half times that of the comparison group, only six percent. This increased risk could only be identified for field players, not goalkeepers.

“Unlike outfielders, goalkeepers rarely head the ball, but are exposed to similar environments and lifestyles throughout their football careers and perhaps beyond,” said researcher Peter Ueda of the Karolinska Institutet. The increased risk in football players is believed to be due to recurrent minor brain injuries, such as those that can result from a head kick. This hypothesis is now supported by the established difference between outfielders and goalkeepers.

In recent years, brain injuries in football have been the subject of debate regarding long-term damage. A study in Scotland found a three and a half times higher risk of neurodegenerative diseases in professional football players. “Our results confirm that professional football players have a higher lifetime risk of contracting these diseases, although we found a lower risk according to the Scottish study,” said Ueda.

Head balls in Scotland can therefore only be practiced repeatedly once a week. There are no headshots guidelines for sole or professional football in Switzerland. There is no ban on youth football in this country.

Swedish researchers warn that their findings have limited applicability to today’s professional football as the sport changes. On the one hand, there is a style of play and training aimed at reducing head injury, for example by avoiding headshots after long passes – on the other hand, the risk may also be higher as training is more intense these days. early age.

https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1908483

(SDA)

Source : Blick