Study finds NFL players have 4× neurodegenerative death risk

A landmark study of nearly 20,000 former National Football League players has found they are nearly four times more likely to die from neurodegenerative diseases than the general population. The research, published this week, provides what investigators call the clearest population-level evidence to date linking professional football careers to long-term neurological risks.

The study, conducted by researchers from Mass General Brigham, Boston University, and the Concussion CTE Foundation, analyzed health records of 19,824 NFL players who competed between 1960 and 2019. It found that while these athletes had lower overall mortality rates than the general public, their risk of dying from neurodegenerative causes was 3.94 times higher. This includes a 3.8 times higher rate of death from all-cause dementia and a 3.88 times higher rate from Parkinson’s disease. The mortality rate from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) was 4.55 times higher.

One of the co-senior authors, Dr. Daniel Daneshvar, chair of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Mass General Brigham and Harvard Medical School, stated that this study demonstrates NFL players are dying of dementia and Parkinson’s disease...