Longevity and cardiovascular mortality of Polish elite football players.

BACKGROUND: Despite the wide popularity of football, there is a paucity of scientific evidence explaining the relationship between being a competitive footballer and life expectancy AIM: The study analyses and compares cause-specific mortality between Polish elite footballers (men) and the general male population.

METHODS: A retrospective method of analysis is employed to study a sample of 455 elite footballers who died between 1990 and 2015. The cause of death was established based on the official statistics of Polish Central Statistical Office. The comparative sample consists of men in the general male population in Poland who died in the sampled period being at least 25 years of age at the time of death.

RESULTS: The mean age at death turned out to be higher for footballers than controls (70.2 vs 67.4 years). Cardiovascular diseases were a more common cause of death among footballers than in the general male population in both the under 65-group and the above- 65-group (46.9% to 32.3% and 61.3% to 53.3%, respectively). A closer analysis of cause-specific cardiovascular mortality revealed that acute myocardial infarction caused more deaths (OR=1.31; CI 95%: [1.02-1.68]) and hypertensive disease less deaths (OR=0.20; CI 95%: [0.05-0.79]) among athletes than in the general male population.

CONCLUSIONS: The study results point to excess cardiovascular mortality among Polish elite footballers. A trend analysis has shown, however, that its level is falling.