Health and Lifestyle Factors and Dementia Risk Among Former Professional Soccer Players

Elite-level contact sport participation is associated with increased dementia risk, which may be attributable to sport-related traumatic brain injury and repetitive head impact exposure. However, the contribution of wider, potentially modifiable dementia risk factors remains uncertain. To explore th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:JAMA network open 2024-12, Vol.7 (12), p.e2449742
Main Authors: Russell, Emma R, Lyall, Donald M, Mackay, Daniel F, Cronin, Kirstie, Stewart, Katy, MacLean, John A, Pell, Jill P, Stewart, William
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Athletes - statistics & numerical data
Case-Control Studies
Dementia - epidemiology
Dementia - etiology
Depression - epidemiology
Diabetes Mellitus - epidemiology
Humans
Hypertension - epidemiology
Life Style
Male
Middle Aged
Neurology
Obesity - epidemiology
Online Only
Original Investigation
Prevalence
Retrospective Studies
Risk Factors
Scotland - epidemiology
Smoking - epidemiology
Soccer - statistics & numerical data
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Summary:Elite-level contact sport participation is associated with increased dementia risk, which may be attributable to sport-related traumatic brain injury and repetitive head impact exposure. However, the contribution of wider, potentially modifiable dementia risk factors remains uncertain. To explore the association of potentially modifiable dementia risk factors with dementia risk among former professional soccer players. This retrospective cohort study used electronic health record linkage to national electronic datasets of general and mental health hospital inpatient and day-case admissions, prescribing information, and death certification in Scotland for male former professional soccer players born between January 1, 1900, and December 31, 1990, who were aged 30 years or older on December 31, 2020, and general population control individuals matched by sex, year of birth, and area socioeconomic status. Database interrogation was performed on November 30, 2021, and data were analyzed between January 16, 2023, and July 8, 2024. History of smoking, depression, alcohol-related disorders, diabetes, hypertension, hearing loss, and obesity coded within electronic health records. Prevalence of dementia risk factors and their association with incident dementia diagnoses were evaluated and compared between former soccer players and matched controls. The final cohort consisted of 11 984 male former professional soccer players and 35 952 matched controls. Over a median 21 years (IQR, 7-34 years) of follow-up from study entry at age 30 years or older, providing a total of 1 039 848 years of follow-up, 434 former soccer players (3.62%) and 453 matched population controls (1.26%) were identified with a dementia diagnosis (hazard ratio [HR], 3.02; 95% CI, 2.54-3.58; P 
ISSN:2574-3805
2574-3805
DOI:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.49742