According to the Guardian, a study by the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden found footballers to be 50% more likely to develop dementia, increasing calls for restrictions on heading the ball. Researchers compared the health records of 6,000 elite footballers and 56,000 non-footballers.
Dementia during a footballer’s later life?
The research discovered 9% of male top-division footballers were diagnosed with neurodegenerative diseases, compared to 6% of the control group. Outfield players had a 1.6 times higher risk of Alzheimer’s and dementia than the wider population, while goalkeepers had no increased risk.
This supports the hypothesis that mild head impacts from heading the ball could explain the increased risk. Campaigners call for limiting heading practice drills for adults and banning children from heading the ball during key developmental stages. Experts also seek recognition of dementia as an industrial disease among footballers.
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