Multi-modality human phenotyping to examine subjective and objective health afflictions in former professional American-style football players: The In-Person Assessment (IPA) protocol. | LitMetric
Football Players Health Study at Harvard University, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
Published: April 2022
AI Article Synopsis
Article Abstract
Background: Participation in American-style football (ASF), one of the most popular sports worldwide, has been associated with adverse health outcomes. However, prior clinical studies of former ASF players have been limited by reliance on subjective self-reported data, inadequate sample size, or focus on a single disease process in isolation.
Objective: To determine the burden of objective multi-system pathology and its relationship with subjective health complaints among former professional ASF players.
Methods: The In-Person Assessment is a case-control, multi-day, deep human phenotyping protocol designed to characterize and quantify pathology among former professional ASF players. Participants, recruited from an on-going large-scale longitudinal cohort study, will include 120 men who report either no health conditions, a single health condition, or multiple health conditions across the key domains of cardiometabolic disease, disordered sleep, chronic pain, and cognitive impairment. Data will be collected from validated questionnaires, structured interviews, physical examinations, multi-modality imaging, and functional assessments over a 3-day study period. A pilot study was conducted to assess feasibility and to obtain participant feedback which was used to shape the final protocol.
Results: This study provides a comprehensive assessment of objective multi-system pathology and its relationship with subjective health complaints among former professional ASF players.
Conclusion: The study will determine whether subjective health complaints among former professional ASF players are explained by objective explanatory pathology and will provide novel opportunities to examine the interrelatedness of co-morbidities. It is anticipated that this protocol will be applicable to other clinical and occupational populations.
Background: Hospital staff frequently encounter high-stress situations, emergencies, and disasters, which profoundly impact their well-being and resilience. The aim of the study was to examine associations between perceived threats, well-being, individual resilience, and resilience at work among staff of a general hospital, following the unexpected Hamas assault on Israel on October 7, 2023, and during the Israel-Gaza conflict.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at a central Israeli public hospital, a level-two trauma center, surveying 434 staff members.
Objectives: Career duration is often used as a metric of neurotrauma exposure in studies of elite athletes. However, as a proxy metric, career length may not accurately represent causal factors, and associations with health outcomes may be susceptible to selection effects. To date, relationships between professional American-style football (ASF) career length and postcareer health remain incompletely characterised.
Animal-source foods (ASFs), contain high amounts of essential nutrients that are readily absorbed by the body. However, children in resource-constrained settings often have limited access to these nutritious foods. This study aimed to investigate the reasons for the low consumption of ASFs among children in the Amhara region of Ethiopia.
Objective: Mid-life cardiovascular risk factors are associated with later cognitive decline. Whether repetitive head injury among professional athletes impacts cardiovascular risk is unknown. We investigated associations between concussion burden and postcareer hypertension, high cholesterol, and diabetes among former professional American-style football (ASF) players.
