ArticleJournal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry2022
Neurodegenerative disease risk among former international rugby union players.
Article in Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 55 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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Who cites it
55 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 83 citations in OpenAlex.
- Repetitive Head Impacts During Contact Sports and Fluid Biomarkers of Neural Damage: A Meta-analysis.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Pooled it
- Sport-related Concussion Can be Prevented by Injury Prevention Program: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Prospective, Controlled Studies.Sports medicine - open · 2025Pooled it
- Neurophysiological Effects of Repeated Soccer Heading in Youth.Journal of biomechanical engineering · 2023Trial
- Chronic traumatic encephalopathy in a neuropathologically confirmed Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease cohort.Brain pathology (Zurich, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Younger Age of First Exposure to American Football Is Associated with Worse Informant-Reported Clinical Outcomes in Older Age Brain Donors.Journal of neurotrauma · 2026Article
- Head Acceleration Event Exposure during Pre-Season Training in Elite Men's Rugby Union.Sports medicine - open · 2026Article
- Biomechanical Profiles of Diagnosed Concussions in Rugby Union: A Case Study Using Instrumented Mouthguards.Sports medicine - open · 2026Article
- Domain-Specific Concussion Knowledge and Reporting in United States Major League Rugby Players.European journal of sport science · 2026Article
- Midlife plasma proteomic profiles indicate altered amyloid and tau processing in former elite rugby players.Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry · 2026Article
- Retired contact sports athletes with cognitive concerns: promoting lifelong brain health.Practical neurology · 2026Review
- Contact Role and Tackle Characteristics Shape Head Acceleration Exposure in Male Community Rugby: A Cohort Study Utilising Instrumented Mouthguards.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Observational
- From Traumatic Brain Injury to Alzheimer's Disease: Multilevel Biomechanical, Neurovascular, and Molecular Mechanisms with Emerging Therapeutic Directions.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Neurodegenerative Diseases in Male Former First-Class New Zealand Rugby Players.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Article
- Strenuous physical activity is associated with a younger age of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis onset in two independent cohorts.Brain communications · 2026Article
- Deep learning approaches for head pose estimation in sports impacts.Sports engineering · 2026Article
- Knowledge and Attitudes of Youth Ice Hockey Players and Their Parents Toward Concussion in the United Kingdom.Cureus · 2026Article
- Long-term neurobehavioral and neuroimaging outcomes in athletes with prior concussion(s) and head impact exposure.The Clinical neuropsychologist · 2025Review
- Beyond the Hit: Muscle and Vascular Tissue Responses to Contact Exposure in Collision Sports-A Narrative Review.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2025Review
- Extreme exercise in males is linked to mTOR signalling and onset of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2025Article
- Knowledge and attitudes of concussion and chronic traumatic encephalopathy amongst a sample of non-professional rugby players.Irish journal of medical science · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAutopsy studies of former contact sports athletes, including soccer and rugby players, frequently report chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a neurodegenerative pathology associated with traumatic brain injury. Nevertheless, little is known about the risk of neurodegenerative disease in these populations. We hypothesised that neurodegenerative disease risk would be higher among former elite rugby union players than the general population.
methodsWe conducted a retrospective cohort study accessing national electronic records on death certification, hospital admissions and dispensed prescriptions for a cohort of 412 male Scottish former international rugby union players and 1236 members of the general population, matched to former players by age, sex and area socioeconomic status. Mortality and incident neurodegenerative disease diagnoses among former rugby players were then compared with the matched comparison group.
resultsOver a median 32 years follow-up from study entry at age 30 years, 121 (29.4%) former rugby players and 381 (30.8%) of the matched comparison group died. All-cause mortality was lower among former rugby players until 70 years of age with no difference thereafter. During follow-up, 47 (11.4%) former rugby players and 67 (5.4%) of the comparison group were diagnosed with incident neurodegenerative disease (HR 2.67, 95% CI 1.67 to 4.27, p<0.001).
conclusionsThis study adds to our understanding of the association between contact sports participation and the risk of neurodegenerative disease. While further research exploring this interaction is required, in the meantime strategies to reduce exposure to head impacts and head injuries in sport should be promoted.
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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.