NFL players 4 times more likely to die of neurodegenerative disease, new study finds

NFL players are nearly four times more likely to die of neurodegenerative diseases such as ALS, Parkinson’s or dementia than the general population, according to a new study from Mass General Brigham, Boston University and the Concussion & CTE Foundation.

The study, published in eClinicalMedicine on July 8, reviewed health data from 19,824 players who played in at least one professional football game between 1960 and 2019. Overall, the group had a lower all-cause mortality rate compared to the general population. That is not the same in neurodegenerative mortality, with dementia (3.8-times higher) and Parkinson’s (3.88-times higher) presenting greater risk for NFL players.

“A fourfold increase in dementia rates from a presumed environmental cause is immense – and brain bank studies indicate that CTE is the primary explanation,” study co-senior author Jesse Mez, MD, MS, Associate Director of the Boston University Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and Co-Director of Clinical Research at the BU CTE Center said in a release. “To put that in perspective, heavy lead exposure, which was banned from paint and gasoline in the U.S. due to its neurological and cardiovascular consequences, leads to a 2-to-3 times greater rate of dementia and a 1.5 times greater rate of cardiovascular death.”

Players with longer careers – considered five seasons or more – had double the risk of neurodegenerative death compared to those who played four seasons or less.

The study also posits that NFL players live longer overall due to a concept called “Selection Through Athletic Resilience Survivor” (STARS). The genetic, environmental, medical and behavioral advantages that led to an individual becoming a professional athlete also contribute to overall survival, and the authors argue that the fourfold increase in neurodegenerative disease found in NFL players may actually underrepresent the true relationship between playing in the NFL and neurodegenerative disease. Otherwise, NFL players would be expected to have lower rates of brain disease – as they have lower rates of cancer and cardiovascular disease.