Washington (AFP)
Former US football players with concussions are more likely to have erectile dysfunction problems later in life, study adds to the growing body of medical literature on the potential dangers of sport .
The analysis published Monday in a review of the American Association of Medicine (Jama Neurology) by Harvard researchers is relatively simple and covers 3,400 former players of the National Football League (NFL).
The authors observed that the players with the most concussions were proportionally twice as likely to report low levels of testosterone and erection problems compared to the group of players with the lowest concussions.
"There is a really strong relationship between concussion symptoms and the likelihood that they will have erectile dysfunction and low testosterone," says AFP principal Rachel Grashow of the School of Public Health. Harvard.
The study is far from perfect because it includes only the players who participated voluntarily, about a quarter of the 13,000 contacted: the former players in good health probably did not respond.
In addition, testosterone levels were not measured: researchers relied only on the existence or not of a prescription drug like Viagra for players.
Finally the biological mechanism is not known. One track would be the pituitary gland, the brain gland that regulates the production of hormones, according to the authors, who recognize that their work is only a first step in identifying a possible link.
© 2019 AFP