NFL players have higher rates of neurodegenerative disease-caused mortality

Mass General Brigham, Boston University, and the Concussion & CTE Foundation cohort study of nearly 20,000 NFL players reveals that players are dying of dementia and Parkinson's disease at much higher rates than the general population.

A new study from Mass General Brigham, Boston University, and the Concussion & CTE Foundation found that National Football League (NFL) players had higher rates of neurodegenerative disease-caused mortality than the general population. A cohort study of nearly 20,000 NFL players revealed that, while players had lower mortality on average compared to national rates, they were four times more likely to experience neurodegenerative mortality. Results are published in eClinicalMedicine.

This is the clearest population-level evidence we have ever had that NFL players are dying due to neurodegenerative disease at real and measurably higher rates. This study demonstrates that, when looking at athletes who have played in an NFL game, including nearly 20,000 players, across every official cause of death, the result is the same: NFL players are dying of dementia and Parkinson's disease three to four times more often than they should."

Daniel Daneshvar, MD, PhD, co-senior author, Chair of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Mass General Brigham and Harvard Medical School and director of the HealthSpan Lab