Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26896951›Full record

SynthesisSports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.)2016

The Mental Health of Elite Athletes: A Narrative Systematic Review.

Simon M Rice, Rosemary Purcell, Stefanie De Silva, Daveena Mawren, Patrick D McGorry, Alexandra G Parker

Open access · hybridAbstract readSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 322 papers, 13 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
322citing papers in PubMed, 13 pooled it
81.5field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

322 citing papers in PubMed, 13 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 1,089 citations in OpenAlex.

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262 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Simon M RiceOrygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health, 35 Poplar Road, Parkville, Melbourne, VIC , 3052, Australia. simon.rice@unimelb.edu.au.
Rosemary PurcellOrygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health, 35 Poplar Road, Parkville, Melbourne, VIC , 3052, Australia.
Stefanie De SilvaOrygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health, 35 Poplar Road, Parkville, Melbourne, VIC , 3052, Australia.
Daveena MawrenOrygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health, 35 Poplar Road, Parkville, Melbourne, VIC , 3052, Australia.
Patrick D McGorryOrygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health, 35 Poplar Road, Parkville, Melbourne, VIC , 3052, Australia.
Alexandra G ParkerOrygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health, 35 Poplar Road, Parkville, Melbourne, VIC , 3052, Australia.
Orygen Youth Health · AUUniversity of Melbourne · AU

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe physical impacts of elite sport participation have been well documented; however, there is comparatively less research on the mental health and psychological wellbeing of elite athletes.

objectiveThis review appraises the evidence base regarding the mental health and wellbeing of elite-level athletes, including the incidence and/or nature of mental ill-health and substance use.

methodsA systematic search of the PubMed, EMBASE, SPORTDiscus, PsycINFO, Cochrane and Google Scholar databases, up to and including May 2015, was conducted.

resultsThe search yielded a total of 2279 records. Following double screening, 60 studies were included. The findings suggested that elite athletes experience a broadly comparable risk of high-prevalence mental disorders (i.e. anxiety, depression) relative to the general population. Evidence regarding other mental health domains (i.e. eating disorders, substance use, stress and coping) is less consistent. These results are prefaced, however, by the outcome of the quality assessment of the included studies, which demonstrated that relatively few studies (25 %) were well reported or methodologically rigorous. Furthermore, there is a lack of intervention-based research on this topic.

conclusionThe evidence base regarding the mental health and wellbeing of elite athletes is limited by a paucity of high-quality, systematic studies. Nonetheless, the research demonstrates that this population is vulnerable to a range of mental health problems (including substance misuse), which may be related to both sporting factors (e.g. injury, overtraining and burnout) and non-sporting factors. More high-quality epidemiological and intervention studies are needed to inform optimal strategies to identify and respond to player mental health needs.

Indexed as

Mental HealthAdaptation, PsychologicalAnxietyAthletesCompetitive BehaviorDepressionFeeding and Eating DisordersHumansIncidenceRisk FactorsStress, PsychologicalSubstance-Related Disorders

Identifiers

PMID26896951
PMCPMC4996886
OpenAlexW2278084024

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.