Buffalo Barbarian Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 While player safety issues related to brain trauma and other football-related injuries dominate the headlines, the study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) found 334 deceased men in a sampling of 3,439 former NFL players. Estimates for the general population anticipated 625 deaths. Players in the study participated in the NFL for at least five seasons from 1959 through 1988, and were observed by NIOSH through 2007. The study is a follow-up to a 1994 report the institute did at the request of the players' union to, "investigate concerns that players were dying prematurely." The latest findings, which contradict that idea, were published earlier this year in the American Journal of Cardiology and on NIOSH's blog. The NFL sent a newsletter from NIOSH about the study's finding to about 3,200 pre-1993 retired players on Tuesday. The latest study found that players had a much lower rate of cancer-related deaths, with 85 dying from the disease as opposed to a projected 146 based on estimates from the general population. One reason for that could be low levels of smoking among athletes, but NIOSH did not attempt to contact former players about their smoking habits. Larger players, particularly defensive linemen, had a higher level of deaths from heart disease, 41 as opposed to an expected 29. There were 498 defensive linemen studied. Offensive and defensive linemen, of course, are likely to have a higher body mass index, a measuring factor for obesity. Overall, though, the study showed that the risk of players dying of heart disease was lower than the general population, with 126 deaths while the anticipated number was 186. Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/football/nfl/05/08/nfl.study.ap/index.html#ixzz1uRtc73DX Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truth on hold Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 (edited) What's been missing in the stories about nfl deaths, CTE and suicides, is a comparison to society as a whole. Without that we have no way of knowing if NFL stuff is excessively high. Edited May 10, 2012 by Joe_the_6_pack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
playman Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 better food may have a role in that too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Britbillsfan Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 A better study would be to compare like for like. So professional football players with other professional sports people. Even then there will be problems (if you compare against Sumo wrestlers, for example, then the results are pretty likely to be skewed). Professional athletes are less likely to smoke, will take care of their nutrition, exercise and have non-sedentary careers for their early years in the workforce. All this will add up to being healthier than average. Also the general popuilation includes a farily large number of people who have serious illnesses in childhood that would make a career in football impossible and which would also reduce their life expectancy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OvrOfficiousJerk Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 The study ends in 1988, and I think we'd see different results for the players who were in the league after that. Yea this study includes Duerson and McMahon who suffered ill effects from their time in the league but the study is diluted with decades of players who, while having inferior safety and medical equipment, weren't playing against 350lb linemen with sub-5" 40 times. The game changed from the 60s to the 1980s, and it would be interesting to see if the study results would change if the 60s were replaced with the 90s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD in CA Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 (edited) People whose physical condition is so great they can play professional sports live longer on average than couch potatoes who are 70 pounds overweight?? Very large people have a higher rate of heart ailments than smaller people?? Stop the presses!! Where has this valuable research been all these years?!? And I love how they make it sound like smoking is the only cause of cancer. Good grief. p.s. this study has almost zero to do with the brain injury issue. Edited May 10, 2012 by KD in CT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodeMonkey Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 p.s. this study has almost zero to do with the brain injury issue. Not almost ... Zero. You can live to be 200 but if you are a drooling idiot 160 of those years is that a good thing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBackupQB Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 Uhm they live in more pain than any other american Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MyHorseAteTheKid Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 What's been missing in the stories about nfl deaths, CTE and suicides, is a comparison to society as a whole. Without that we have no way of knowing if NFL stuff is excessively high. How many corrections officers and police officers die from suicide? I'm sure it at a much higher rate than sports figures... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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