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

Importance: 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.

Objective: To explore the association of potentially modifiable dementia risk factors with dementia risk among former professional soccer players.

Neurodegenerative disease risk among former international rugby union players.

Background: Autopsy studies of former contact sports athletes, including soccer and rugby players, frequently report chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a neurodegenerative pathology associated with traumatic brain injury. Nevertheless, little is known about the risk of neurodegenerative disease in these populations. We hypothesised that neurodegenerative disease risk would be higher among former elite rugby union players than the general population.

Association of Field Position and Career Length With Risk of Neurodegenerative Disease in Male Former Professional Soccer Players.

Importance: Neurodegenerative disease mortality is higher among former professional soccer players than general population controls. However, the factors contributing to increased neurodegenerative disease mortality in this population remain uncertain.

Objective: To investigate the association of field position, professional career length, and playing era with risk of neurodegenerative disease among male former professional soccer players.

Neurodegenerative Disease Mortality among Former Professional Soccer Players.

Background: Neurodegenerative disorders have been reported in elite athletes who participated in contact sports. The incidence of neurodegenerative disease among former professional soccer players has not been well characterized.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study to compare mortality from neurodegenerative disease among 7676 former professional soccer players (identified from databases of Scottish players) with that among 23,028 controls from the general population who were matched to the players on the basis of sex, age, and degree of social deprivation.