"Former professional footballers are three and a half times more likely to die of dementia than people of the same age range in the general population, according to new research.
Experts at Glasgow University have been investigating fears that heading the ball could be linked to brain injuries.
The study began after claims that former West Brom striker Jeff Astle died because of repeated head trauma.
It compared deaths of 7,676 ex-players to 23,000 from the general population.
The sample was taken from men who played professional football in Scotland between 1900 and 1976.
The long-awaited study was commissioned by the Football Association and the Professional Footballers' Association after delays in initial research had angered Astle's family.
It began in January last year and was led by consultant neuropathologist Dr Willie Stewart, who said that "risk ranged from a five-fold increase in Alzheimer's disease, through an approximately four-fold increase in motor neurone disease, to a two-fold Parkinson's disease in former professional footballers compared to population controls"."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/50124102
Experts at Glasgow University have been investigating fears that heading the ball could be linked to brain injuries.
The study began after claims that former West Brom striker Jeff Astle died because of repeated head trauma.
It compared deaths of 7,676 ex-players to 23,000 from the general population.
The sample was taken from men who played professional football in Scotland between 1900 and 1976.
The long-awaited study was commissioned by the Football Association and the Professional Footballers' Association after delays in initial research had angered Astle's family.
It began in January last year and was led by consultant neuropathologist Dr Willie Stewart, who said that "risk ranged from a five-fold increase in Alzheimer's disease, through an approximately four-fold increase in motor neurone disease, to a two-fold Parkinson's disease in former professional footballers compared to population controls"."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/50124102
