ArticleBritish journal of sports medicine2018
Prevalence of knee pain, radiographic osteoarthritis and arthroplasty in retired professional footballers compared with men in the general population: a cross-sectional study.
Article in British journal of sports medicine, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04956393 (Proof-of-Concept of the SOAR), which is not on this map. Cited by 49 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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.
Proof-of-Concept of the SOAR (Stop OsteoARthritis) Program: A Randomized Delayed-Control Trial
Who cites it
49 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- MicroRNA expression in osteoarthritis: a meta-analysis.Clinical and experimental medicine · 2023Pooled it
- Pain and Functional Scores in Patients Affected by Knee OA after Treatment with Pulsed Electromagnetic and Magnetic Fields: A Meta-Analysis.Cartilage · 2021Pooled it
- The Risk of Knee Osteoarthritis in Professional Soccer Players—a Systematic Review With Meta-AnalysesDeutsches Arzteblatt international · 2021Pooled it
- Effects of blood flow restriction combined with electrical stimulation on muscle functions and performance in university football players with knee osteoarthritis.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Two-year follow-up of varus progression in young professional football players.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2026Article
- [BK 2118: knee osteoarthritis in professional football : Expert assessment of occupational exposure, sports injury, and competing causes].Orthopadie (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Clinical Outcomes Related to the After-Career Consultation in Retired Male Footballers.International journal of sports medicine · 2026Article
- Influence of major trauma and lower limb loss on radiographic progression and incidence of knee osteoarthritis and pain: a comparative and predictive analysis from the ADVANCE study.Arthritis research & therapy · 2026Article
- Injury and local injection and the risk of foot/ankle osteoarthritis: a case-control study in retired UK male professional footballers.Rheumatology (Oxford, England) · 2026Article
- A sixteen-year epidemiological study of match injuries sustained during the women's Rugby World Cup (2010 to 2025).Frontiers in sports and active living · 2026Article
- Insights into knee post-traumatic osteoarthritis pathophysiology from the relationship of serum biomarkers to radiographic features in the ADVANCE cohort.Arthritis research & therapy · 2025Article
- Health among Retired Great Britain's Olympic Athletes: A cross-sectional Study of Disease and Multimorbidity.Sports medicine - open · 2025Article
- Analysis of Genu Varum in Young Male Professional Soccer Players.Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine · 2025Article
- Knee pain and function in retired male intercounty GAA players: an exploratory study.Irish journal of medical science · 2025Article
- Insights from the first IOC Olympian Health Cohort: injury and illness in Olympians preparing for the Tokyo 2020 Summer and Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2025Article
- Is Quality of Life a Reason Related to the Retirement of Professional Male Soccer Players?Translational sports medicine · 2025Article
- Implementing exposure limits for players in contact team sports: review of principles and practices.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2025Review
- High Prevalence of Varus Knee Malalignment in Adolescent Football Players-Clinical Lower Leg Axis Measurements of Male Junior Football Players Aged 7 to 18 Years.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Femoral cartilage ultrasound echo-intensity is a valid measure of cartilage composition.Journal of orthopaedic research : official publication of the Orthopaedic Research Society · 2024Article
- Influence of leg axis alignment on MRI T2* mapping of the knee in young professional soccer players.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo determine the prevalence of knee pain, radiographic knee osteoarthritis (RKOA), total knee replacement (TKR) and associated risk factors in male ex-professional footballers compared with men in the general population (comparison group).
methods1207 male ex-footballers and 4085 men in the general population in the UK were assessed by postal questionnaire. Current knee pain was defined as pain in or around the knees on most days of the previous month. Presence and severity of RKOA were assessed on standardised radiographs using the Nottingham Line Drawing Atlas (NLDA) in a subsample of 470 ex-footballers and 491 men in the comparison group. The adjusted risk ratio (aRR) and adjusted risk difference (aRD) with 95% CI in ex-footballers compared with the general population were calculated using the marginal model in Stata.
resultsEx-footballers were more likely than the comparison group to have current knee pain (aRR 1.91, 95% CI 1.77 to 2.06), RKOA (aRR 2.21, 95% CI 1.92 to 2.54) and TKR (aRR 3.61, 95% CI 2.90 to 4.50). Ex-footballers were also more likely to present with chondrocalcinosis (aRR 3.41, 95% CI 2.44 to 4.77). Prevalence of knee pain and RKOA were higher in ex-footballers at all ages. However, even after adjustment for significant knee injury and other risk factors, there was more than a doubling of risk of these outcomes in footballers.
conclusionsThe prevalence of all knee osteoarthritis outcomes (knee pain, RKOA and TKR) were two to three times higher in male ex-footballers compared with men in the general population group. Knee injury is the main attributable risk factor. Even after adjustment for recognised risk factors, knee osteoarthritis appear to be an occupational hazard of professional football.
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