ArticleBMJ open2022
Foot and ankle Osteoarthritis and Cognitive impairment in retired UK Soccer players (FOCUS): protocol for a cross-sectional comparative study with general population controls.
Article in BMJ open, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- 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
- Review
- Heading Frequency and Risk of Cognitive Impairment in Retired Male Professional Soccer Players.JAMA network open · 2023Article
- Cognitive Impairment and Self-Reported Dementia in UK Retired Professional Soccer Players: A Cross Sectional Comparative Study.Sports medicine - open · 2023Article
- The causal effect of two occupational factors on osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis: a Mendelian randomization study.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionProfessional footballers commonly experience sports-related injury and repetitive microtrauma to the foot and ankle, placing them at risk of subsequent chronic pain and osteoarthritis (OA) of the foot and ankle. Similarly, repeated heading of the ball, head/neck injuries and concussion have been implicated in later development of neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia. A recent retrospective study found that death from neurodegenerative diseases was higher among former professional soccer players compared with age matched controls. However, well-designed lifetime studies are still needed to provide evidence regarding the prevalence of these conditions and their associated risk factors in retired professional football players compared with the general male population.
objectivesTo determine whether former professional male footballers have a higher prevalence than the general male population of: (1) foot/ankle pain and radiographic OA; and (2) cognitive and motor impairments associated with dementia and Parkinson's disease. Secondary objectives are to identify specific football-related risk factors such as head impact/concussion for neurodegenerative conditions and foot/ankle injuries for chronic foot/ankle pain and OA. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This is a cross-sectional, comparative study involving a questionnaire survey with subsamples of responders being assessed for cognitive function by telephone assessment, and foot/ankle OA by radiographic examination. A sample of 900 adult, male, ex professional footballers will be recruited and compared with a control group of 1100 age-matched general population men between 40 and 100 years old. Prevalence will be estimated per group. Poisson regression will be performed to determine prevalence ratio between the populations and logistic regression will be used to examine risk factors associated with each condition in footballers. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This study was approved by the East Midlands-Leicester Central Research Ethics Committee on 23 January 2020 (REC ref: 19/EM/0354). The study results will be disseminated at national and international meetings and submitted for peer-review publication.
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