A study carried out on former professional footballers in France showed that they lived longer, with less cancer and cardiovascular disease, but more risk of dementia, according to its conclusions consulted by AFP.
The mortality rate and causes of death were examined for 9,693 professional footballers, including 6,114 born in France, who played at least one match in the French Championship (1st and 2nd divisions) between the start of 1968 and the end of 2015.
During this interval, 673 deaths were recorded, with the cause of death identified in 98% of cases: the analysis focused on these 662 deaths in particular, compared to the rest of the population.
The study led by Emmanuel Orhant, medical director of the French Football Federation, concludes that a professional footballer dies later than average and is less exposed to cancer and cardio disease.
The comparative index amounts to 0.69, the number 1 being the threshold from which we speak of excess mortality.
Four times more Alzheimer's disease
In the same way, there are fewer deaths related to cancers or cardiovascular diseases among professionals.
The risks associated with Parkinson's disease are also lower.
On the other hand, the statistical examination highlights significantly more important neurodegenerative diseases: there are three times more dementias (comparative index of 3.38) and, in particular, four times more Alzheimer's diseases (index of 4, 08) among the targeted footballers.
Published in 2019, a study by the University of Glasgow led by Professor Daniel Mackay also concluded that former Scottish footballers were 3.5 times more likely to die from a neurodegenerative disease than the average.
Although the study did not establish any "link" with the game of heading, the English, Scottish and Irish Federations then banned this practice during training sessions for children under 12 years old.
Not necessarily linked to the head game
The risks for the brain probably come from "violent shocks", as demonstrated in other sports (boxing, ice hockey, American football, etc.), and "not from head games", says Emmanuel Orhant to the AFP.
According to the scientific community, "there is no evidence of a direct or indirect link between head game and neurodegenerative diseases", he insists.
Co-funded by the FFF and the Professional Football League, the French study was initiated in 2014 by Pierre Rochcongar and continued, on the latter's death, by Dr Orhant in conjunction with Public Health France and neurologists from the 'AP-HP.
His findings were published in June in the specialist journal “The Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports”.
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