The association between playing professional American football and longevity.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
; 120(45): e2308867120, 2023 Nov 07.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37903248
ABSTRACT
Recent research concludes that professional American football players (hereafter, "football players") live longer than American men in general, despite experiencing higher rates of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and cardiovascular disease (CVD). This suggests that the longevity-enhancing benefits of playing football (e.g., physical fitness, money) outweigh the costs associated with CTE, CVD, and other longevity detriments of playing football. However, these surprising results may be the consequence of flawed research design. To investigate, we conducted two analyses. In analysis 1, we compared a) all professional American football players whose first season was 1986 or between 1988 and 1995 to b) a random sample of same-age American men observed as part of the National Health Interview Surveys in those same years selected on good health, at least 3 y of college, and not being poor. The exposure consists of playing one or more games of professional football; the outcome is risk of death within 25 y. In analysis 2, we use data on 1,365 men drafted to play in the (American) National Football League in the 1950s-906 of whom ultimately played professional football, and 459 of whom never played a game in any professional league. We estimate the association between playing football and survival through early 2023. In both analyses, we investigate differences between linemen and other position players. In contrast to most prior research, in both analyses, we find that linemen died earlier than otherwise similar men; men who played other positions died no earlier (or later).
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Doenças Cardiovasculares
/
Encefalopatia Traumática Crônica
/
Futebol Americano
Limite:
Humans
/
Male
País como assunto:
America do norte
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2023
Tipo de documento:
Article