ArticleJournal of sleep disorders & therapy2017
Obstructive Sleep Apnea among Players in the National Football League: A Scoping Review.
Article in Journal of sleep disorders & therapy, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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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.
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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.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
- Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Recovery in Athletes: BMI and Neck Circumference and Their Impact on Recovery Capacity and Injury Risk.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Prevalence and predictors of obstructive sleep apnea in collegiate football players.Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine · 2025Article
- Clinical Outcomes and Tau Pathology in Retired Football Players: Associations With Diagnosed and Witnessed Sleep Apnea.Neurology. Clinical practice · 2024Article
- Association of Vascular Risk Factors and CSF and Imaging Biomarkers With White Matter Hyperintensities in Former American Football Players.Neurology · 2024Article
- Sleep and cardiovascular disease.Emerging topics in life sciences · 2023Review
- Premortem Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Diagnoses in Professional Football.Annals of neurology · 2020Article
- Sleep and Athletic Performance: Impacts on Physical Performance, Mental Performance, Injury Risk and Recovery, and Mental Health.Sleep medicine clinics · 2020Review
- Obstructive Sleep Apnea Risk and Stroke among Blacks with Metabolic Syndrome: Results from Metabolic Syndrome Outcome (MetSO) Registry.International journal of clinical research & trials · 2020Article
- Interactive Effects of Racial Identity and Repetitive Head Impacts on Cognitive Function, Structural MRI-Derived Volumetric Measures, and Cerebrospinal Fluid Tau and Aβ.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveObstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common sleep-disordered breathing condition that has emerged as a significant public health problem given its increased prevalence over the past decade. The high prevalence of obesity and large waist circumference among NFL players are two risk factors that might contribute to the high susceptibility of football players to develop OSA. National Football League linemen might be particularly vulnerable since they tend to have a higher body mass index. In this scoping review, we aim to bring attention to the limited research regarding OSA among National Football League players and highlight the negative consequences of OSA in an attempt to increase awareness of the urgent need for further research in this area.
methodsSearch terms associated with obstructive sleep apnea and football were used to examine Google Scholar, EMBASE, CINAHL, PubMed, ProQuest, and Web of Science Plus for relevant studies. All relevant studies were included and documented.
resultsFindings included (n=4) studies of interest. All 4 studies revealed a near or slightly above 50% prevalence of OSA in the investigated cohorts (mostly retired NFL linemen). Most participants in the study (active NFL players) showed symptoms associated with a sleep-disorder breathing condition (snoring).
conclusionOSA requires more attention from the research and medical community. As suggested by results in the 4 studies included in this paper, OSA and associated symptoms are prevalent in the NFL population. Further research is required to investigate the extent of OSA and OSA risk in this population. There is an urgent need to conduct OSA risk surveillance in the athletic community.
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Registered trials
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.