Football headers may raise chances of later cognitive impairment
The UK findings are similar for self-reported or doctor-diagnosed dementia/Alzheimer's disease.
Heading the ball in soccer is associated with a higher risk for later cognitive impairment – and the risk rises with the number of headers in a game, UK authors have found.
They looked at whether heading frequency in games and in training is associated with the risk for cognitive impairment in former professional football players.
The analysis included data from 459 retired male professional football players (aged 45 and older), published in JAMA Network Open.
The University of Nottingham researchers found that the prevalence of cognitive impairment was almost 10% for 0-5 headings per match, 14.78% for 6-15 headings, and 15.2% for more than 15 headings.
