Story at a glance
- The study analyzed health records of 7,676 Scottish players.
- Those in defender positions were five times more likely to have dementia.
- Previous research found former professional soccer players were 3.5 times more likely to die with dementia than the general public.
A new study suggests the increased risk of developing a neurodegenerative disease in professional soccer players depends on their position and career length.
Professor Willie Stewart of the University of Glasgow leads the FIELD (Football’s Influence on Lifelong Health and Dementia Risk) study that previously found former professional soccer players were 3.5 times more likely to die with dementia than the general public.
But now new research published in the journal JAMA Neurology is highlighting the link between repeated heading in the game and an increased risk of dementia.
The study analyzed health records of 7,676 male Scottish players, and found those in defender positions were five times more likely to have dementia. Defenders head the ball the most.
Meanwhile, goalkeepers who rarely head the ball were found to have the same risk of dementia as the general population. The research found the risk remained the same for players regardless of the era they played in.
“The data from this paper is the missing link in trying to understand this connection between sport and dementia,” Stewart told The Guardian.
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“In the previous study we didn’t have sufficient data to be able to look at the important factor: exposure to football. What we could say last time was that being a footballer meant your risk of dying with a degenerative brain disease was higher, but we couldn’t say what in football was doing,” Stewart told the news outlet.
“Now, through using our surrogates for exposure to heading and brain injury, which are field position and length of playing the game, we can see that if you’re in a position where you’re exposed to a high level of head impacts or you play the game longer, your risk is higher,” he added.
The researcher said the sport should come with a health warning about repeated heading and dementia, and consider doing away with heading.
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