ArticlePM & R : the journal of injury, function, and rehabilitation2022
Individual and cumulative health afflictions are associated with greater impairment in physical and mental function in former professional American style football players.
Article in PM & R : the journal of injury, function, and rehabilitation, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- A systematic review on the risk of neurodegenerative diseases and neurocognitive disorders in professional and varsity athletes.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2022Pooled it
- Association of arthritis and total joint arthroplasty with self-reported function in former professional American-style football players.PM & R : the journal of injury, function, and rehabilitation · 2026Article
- Factors Associated With Functional Outcomes in Former Professional American-Style Football Players With Symptomatic Knee and Hip Osteoarthritis.Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine · 2026Article
- Interaction of Medical Conditions and Football Exposures Associated with Premortem Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Diagnosis in Former Professional American Football Players.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2024Article
- Concussion History and the Emotional and Behavioral Dyscontrol Domains of Health-Related Quality of Life in College Students.Journal of athletic training · 2023Article
- Incorporation of concussion history as part of the LIfestyle for BRAin Health (LIBRA) modifiable factors risk score and associations with cognition in older former National Football League players.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2023Article
- Individual and cumulative health afflictions are associated with greater impairment in physical and mental function in former professional American style football players.PM & R : the journal of injury, function, and rehabilitation · 2022Article
- Higher Cardiovascular Risk Factor Burden Associated With Cumulative Concussion History and Age-Related Differences.The Journal of head trauma rehabilitationArticle
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Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundFormer American style football players (ASF players) have recognized health concerns associated with prior sport participation. It remains unknown whether categorizations of current health conditions, referred to in this report as afflictions (conceptually framed as neurocognitive, cardiovascular, cardiometabolic, sleep apnea, and chronic pain) are associated with physical and mental function.
objectiveTo evaluate the association of afflictions to physical and mental function. It was hypothesized that former National Football League players with any affliction would have worse function compared to unafflicted participants. It was anticipated that multiple afflictions would result in cumulative loss of function.
designCross-sectional retrospective design.
settingAcademic medical multisite hospital system.
participantsA total of 3913 of 15,611 former ASF players who played professionally from 1960 to 2019 (response rate 25%). Assessment of Risk Factors Self-report survey.
main outcome measuresEach participant completed the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Global Health Scale and Physical Function questionnaires. Responses were used to generate two physical function and one mental function subscale scores. Raw scores were converted to T-scores categorized as impaired (T-score < 40) or unimpaired (T-score ≥ 40). Primary analyses measured the association of affliction to function (impaired or unimpaired).
resultsAfter adjusting for confounders (age, race, position, number of seasons, age of first exposure to football, alcohol use, smoking history, and current body mass index), each affliction was associated with reduced physical function on the Global physical function subscale (risk ratio [RR] = 1.23-2.45, all P < .005), physical function scale (RR = 1.24-2.75, all P < .01), and mental function scale (RR = 1.34-2.87, all P < .001), except that cardiovascular affliction was not associated with mental function (RR = 1.15, P = .15). The lowest functional measures were observed in those afflicted by chronic pain. Cumulative afflictions were associated with worse function.
conclusionsAfflictions are associated with cumulative reduction of function. Research evaluating how afflictions interact may help elucidate mechanisms for illness and develop interventions to optimize function.
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