Yesterday, The New England Journal of Medicine published a study from the University of Glasgow that has received much attention around the world.
In the study, funded by the English Football Association (FA) and the English Players Union (FPA), the researchers compared the causes of death of 7,676 for this Scottish football professional to 23,000 other people.
There, it was found that on approximately 3.5 times more football deaths from dementia diseases than the other people, the football pros.
Football players, on the other hand, are less likely than others to die from several other diseases such as heart disease and some forms of cancer.
- It is now our duty to gather globally in football to address this issue in a comprehensive and unified way. Research must continue to answer more specific questions about what needs to be done to identify and request risk factors, says Gordon Taylor, chairman of the English Players Union.
The study provides no clear explanation as to why former football players are at greater risk of suffering from dementia disease than others.