2013. doi:10.1111/sms.12122. For example, handedness is unlikely to be measured in soccer players, and the influence of position in non-contact sports may be more relevant in life quality research rather than life longevity. Symbolic significance of initials on longevity. 2007;28:697702. By using this website, you agree to our 1997;9:3541. Sorenson SC, Romano R, Scholefield RM, Martin BE, Gordon JE, Azen SP, et al. Further, weight also influenced the lifespan longevities of baseball players [61, 69] and played a role in the longevities of Japanese sumo wrestlers, although its influence appeared to be small [OR=1.08, CI 1.011.15; 57]. The general finding of these studies was a greater longevity for elite athletes relative to their American controls. Sports Medicine - Open We will first examine the possible biases in epidemiological research in historical samples of athletes. Second, the precocity-longevity hypothesis (see [65]), which investigates the relationship between precociousness (i.e., career debut) and early death, has been shown to affect MLB players longevities [39]. For example, Tom Morris won the Open Championship for the third time in 1867 at age 46. Among The longevity of baseball hall of famers compared to other players. 1994;309:2431. Increased mortality rate and suicide in Swedish former elite male athletes in power sports. For example, evidence suggests that physical activity plays an important role in managing mental health diseases, such as anxiety and depression (e.g., [78]). Scripps Howard News Service Online. Omran AR. PubMed The longevity of baseball hall of famers compared to other players. For general inquiries, please use our contact form. Lindqvist AS, Moberg T, Ehrnborg C, et al. Further, in their follow-up study on the same sample, Sorenson et al. Of the 54 peer-reviewed studies included, 4 were responses to the authors of different studies related to mortality and longevity of elite athletes [29, 30, 42, 44]. Bull of the World Health Organ. 2001;27:142939. Gajewski AK, Poznaska A. Mortality of top athletes, actors and clergy in Poland: 19242000 follow-up study of the longer term effect of physical activity. Ageing Res Rev. Genes, physical fitness and ageing. Coate D, Sun R. Survival estimates for elite male and female Olympic athletes and tennis championship competitors. Kettunen JA, Kujala UM, Kaprio J, Bckmand H, Peltonen M, Eriksson JG, et al. The main finding of this systematic review indicates favorable lifespan longevity advantages for elite athletes relative to age- and sex-matched controls from the general population; however, limitations in reviewing literature on mortality and longevity in elite athletes exist. Why sport stars are wealthier than ever -- but they still may not be Baseball, football, soccer, basketball, and cycling had the most reported data on elite athletes lifespan longevities. Ottawa Hospital Research Institute website. For example, elite cyclists, such as French, Italian, and Belgian Tour de France participants, had greater lifespan longevities when compared to the pooled general population from their respective countries for the appropriate age cohorts [13, 27, 28]. Although it appears that there are many unanswered questions concerning athletes lifespan longevities, Teramoto and Bungum [16] presented enough empirical evidence to determine some cross-sport and energy system trends. In particular, OKeefe (e.g., [81, 82]) has advocated that excessive aerobic training can result in cardiovascular damage (e.g., atrial fibrillation, coronary artery disease, and malignant ventricular arrhythmias). PubMed Smith G. The baseball hall of fame is not the kiss of death. Beaglehole R, Stewart A. Holistic life-span health outcomes among elite intercollegiate student-athletes. The 517 former NFL players who died during that 35-year period did so at an average age of 59.6 years; the baseball players at 66.7 years. Accessed 15 Sept 2014. Body mass index, playing position, race, and the cardiovascular mortality of retired professional football players. Factors such as these, in addition to a bevy of other confounders such as access to high-quality medical care [23], are what make LE a difficult outcome to accurately predict. The implication of these biases on the cumulative evidence of this review is unclear, and as a result, it is important to consider how publication bias can under- and overestimate certain predictors of longevity. English language articles were searched using the Web of Science database. As highlighted in this review, weight is an important predictor of mortality risk. Measures of mortality included hazard rate/ratio of death (HR), life expectancy (LE), mortality rate (MR), odds ratio for mortality (OR), relative conditional survival (RCS), relative survival ratio (RSR), standardized mortality ratio (SMR), and standardized proportionate mortality ratio (SPMR). In this review, we consider the relationship between participation at elite levels of sport and mortality risk relative to other athletes and age- and sex-matched controls from the general population. average Research on the heritability of physical fitness (e.g., [84]) suggests that we cannot discount the influence of advantageous genetic inheritance coupled with high levels of participation and competition in sport. [. 2012;23:5568. Of those 465,575 examined, only 5610 (1.2%) were female athletes. Life span exercise among elite intercollegiate student athletes. 2007;36:391405. In addition, former athletes have been found to partake in fewer negative health habits, such as smoking and drinking alcohol [79]. Despite its limitations, historical analyses of sport and health shape our present understanding of its relationship and influence. 2009 Mar;30:21324. Specifically, these three additional articles were located through Google Scholars search engine using the same keywords as used in the Web of Science database search (e.g., athletes, death, etc.). Mortality of French participants in the Tour de France (19472012), Sanchis-Gomar F, Olaso-Gonzalez G, Corella D, Gomez-Cabrera MC, Vina J. sharing sensitive information, make sure youre on a federal Thank you for taking time to provide your feedback to the editors. ", More information: The average age in esports versus NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL A 59-year historical cohort study. Longevity of soccer players: an investigation of all German internationals from 1908 to 2006. doi:10.1055/s-0028-1128150. The precocity-longevity hypothesis: earlier peaks in career achievement predict shorter lives. Nevertheless, only 6 peer-reviewed studies on elite athlete mortality and longevity that included females in their samples were identified [9, 20, 24, 31, 58, 60] and no studies that investigated females exclusively. "The longevity of sporting legends," by Professor Les Mayhew, explains that top-level cricketers, rugby union, golf and tennis players have benefited from the greatest increases in life expectancy, while boxers and jockeys are actually likely to live shorter lives than the average man across England and Wales, after taking into account general rises in life expectancy. In turn, these findings will have implications on the generalizability of factors found to predict mortality and longevity in elite athletes that were measured at one point in time (i.e., active athletic career). Seventeen additional articles were retrieved from reference lists found in these papers and a general web search. SL collected the data. 1993;76:17182. Fafian Jr J. Mortality experience of National Basketball Association players. [. Part of Sir Brendan Foster, former Olympian and Founder of the Great North Run, said: "I welcome this timely report by the ILC ahead of a summer of sports, which demonstrates all too clearly the benefits of sport, not just to our overall health, but also to our life expectancy. Neurosurg. Light and moderate intensity levels of activity were generally associated with a reduction in mortality, whereas training at high intensities was not required for the main prevention against all-cause mortality [32]. Third, MLB players with positive initials in their names (e.g., A.C.E.) Neither your address nor the recipient's address will be used for any other purpose. Zwiers R, Zantvoord FWA, Engelaer FM, van Bodegom D, van der Ouderaa FJG, Westendorp RGJ, et al. Kujala UM, Sarna S, Kaprio J, Tikkanen HO, Koskenvuo M. Natural selection to sports, later physical activity habits, and coronary heart disease. Further, Norwegian divers [8] and skiers [22] and Italian track and field athletes [58] had greater lifespan longevities relative to controls from their respective countries as well. Teramoto M, Bungum TJ. Pro Football Encyclopedia. Pro Football Encyclopedia. 2009;e1000097. Br J Sports Med. Best Answer. Google Scholar. Barnwell B. Coate D, Schwenkenberg J. Coate D, Sun R. Survival estimates for elite male and female Olympic athletes and tennis championship competitors. An important challenge to mortality research in sport is the lack of data on the health behaviors of athletes post retirement. Our objective was to extend the narrative review of Teramoto and Bungum [16] with a more comprehensive and up-to-date list of studies on mortality and longevity in previously elite athletes. 2007;31:65370. Of those 465,575 examined, only 5610 (1.2%) were female athletes. athlete Abel EL, Kruger ML. Taioli E. All causes of mortality in male professional soccer players. Future research into the mechanisms that may affect mortality risk is important for a better understanding of life expectancies in both eminent and non-eminent populations. The epidemiologic transition: a theory of the epidemiology of population change. [7] indicated that elite athletes live longer than the general population, with an all-cause pooled standard mortality ratio (SMR) of 0.67 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.550.81; P<0.001). Mayo Clin Proc. In particular, MLB players [15, 36, 38, 4547], NFL players [12, 19, 49, 62], cyclists [13, 27, 28], NBA players [10, 48], and golfers [11, 21] had the most robust evidence of greater longevity. [61] drew attention to several confounders that may positively influence longevity outcomes, such as higher socioeconomic status, smaller body size, and positive environmental and health benefits. Although it may be premature to conclude that other databases have similar fallibility (e.g., missing death date data), we must be cautious of the possible incongruency between reported and unreported/unknown death date data in other studies that bias lifespan longevity results. School of Kinesiology and Health Science, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, M3J 1P3 ON Canada. The extents to which these confounders contribute to mortality risk are still largely unknown however, as survival statistics may undermine the interplay of complex socioeconomic factors [72]. We identified 100 elite athletes from each of the ten selected sports to determine average life expectancy. Hicks RA, Johnson C, Cuevas T, Deharo D, Bautista J. An athletes playing position is arguably the most obvious mechanism that influences mortality risk, largely due to perceived anthropometric differences that are determinants of health (e.g., weight). It is important for future research to determine which factors are more robust predictors of longevity and if they continue to be relevant in later life. Therefore, each sport will have unique statistical variables that may make it more difficult for researchers to draw cross-sport comparisons. J of Sports Sci and Med. Increased average longevity among the Tour de France cyclists. Montgomery H, Safari L. Genetic basis of physical fitness. These findings seem counterintuitive since physical activity is often associated with a substantial reduction of chronic disease risk and being important to overall health and wellbeing (e.g., [77]). 1993;2:23744. Ottawa Hospital Research Institute website. Scand J of Med and Sci in Sports. Major League Baseball players and longevity. Selden MA, Helzberg JH, Waeckerle JF. and transmitted securely. Accessed 15 Sept 2014. Belli S, Vanacore N. Proportionate mortality of Italian soccer players: is amyotrophic lateral sclerosis an occupational disease? As a library, NLM provides access to scientific literature. In turn, the emergence of a hypothetical name-longevity relationship in elite athletes emphasizes the need for greater replication in this area of research. Several mechanisms within and between sports may have powerful effects on the overall lifespan longevities of players (e.g., type of sport, playing position, race, and energy system). In this study, we focus on mortality of previously elite athletes. Comedians, Athletes and Performers Die Younger Bianco M, Fabbricatore C, Sanna N, Fabiano C, Palmieri V, Zeppilli P. Elite athletes: is survival shortened in boxers? This lack of information about later phases of athletes lifespans may be attributable to several factors, such as the greater access to athletes during their competitive careers as well as the preponderance of participation- and performance-based theories focusing on elements related to understanding the antecedents of sporting success (e.g., [2]). Baron S, Rinsky R. Health hazard evaluation report, National Football League players mortality study. Symbolic significance of initials on longevity. Health Consequences of an Elite Sporting Career: Long-Term Diagnostic performance of body mass index to identify obesity as defined by body adiposity: a systematic review and meta- analysis. Precocity predicts shorter life for major league baseball players: confirmation of McCanns precocity-longevity hypothesis. Although our overall understanding of modifiable and non-modifiable factors that contribute to mortality risk in elite athletes remains limited, in part due to methodological and data source inconsistencies [29, 30], some trends emerged from our investigation. Both authors declare that they have no competing interests. Moreover, those with a playing time body mass index (BMI) of >30kg/m2 had a significantly higher risk of CVD, which was also influenced by race/ethnicity [19]. In total, 57 studies filled the criteria for inclusion (Tables1 and 2): 54 peer-reviewed publications (see Table1), in addition to three articles from online sources included to investigate findings of mortality risk in elite athletes that may be disseminated to a different cohort of the population (e.g., social media users; see Table2). PubMed Does education matter? In addition, Koning and Amelink [23] highlighted that self-selecting to participate in an occupation where health is important may predispose athletes to favorable survival outcomes relative to population comparisons. [19] found an overall decrease in mortality in National Football Players (NFL) who were active between 1959 and 1988; however, defensive linemen had increased mortality from CVD and cardiomyopathy. Int J of Sports Med. Seventeen additional articles were retrieved from reference lists found in these papers and a general web search. Your email address is used only to let the recipient know who sent the email. Neurodegenerative causes of death among retired National Football League players. We excluded studies with no full-text availability (abstracts, conference proceedings, commentaries, and editorials), no English-text availability (a small proportion of international articles were unavailable for translation to English), other literature reviews with different inclusion criteria (e.g., non-elite samples), duplicates, case reports, studies on morbidity (i.e., CVD risk factors, etc. Increased average longevity among the Tour de France cyclists. Lindqvist AS, Moberg T, Ehrnborg C, et al. Risk of bias can affect the cumulative evidence of a review of literature [33], such as selective reporting within studies, whereby researchers may under-report variables that were found to have less statistical impact on longevity outcomes in the course of reporting results that support the direction of their findings. [7] included 10 studies of elite athlete longevity in their meta-analyses, but their inclusion criteria excluded studies that did not use SMR as a statistical measure of mortality (38 studies were excluded for this reason). Which Athletes Have the Longest Life Expectancy? Copy. Live fast, die young: Famous entertainers and athletes average Sean Lahmans Baseball Archive. J of Sports Sci and Med. 1994;26:2249. Okorodudu DO, Jumean MF, Montori VM, Romero-Corral A, Somers VK, Erwin PJ, et al. Consider supporting ScienceX's mission by getting a premium account. Abel and Kruger [17] discussed two advantages to studying elite athletes with regards to longevity. Researchers Richard Epstein and Catherine Epstein said the study, based on analysing 1,000 New York Times obituaries from 2009-2011, found film, music, stage While a full electronic search strategy for at least one database is recommended [33], we further located research articles by searching the references of records that were identified through our database search, in addition to performing a general web search through the Google Scholar search engine. 1998;36:73742. Abel EL, Kruger ML. Given that empirical evidence is necessary for coherent explanations of longevity outcomes of elite athletes, do mechanisms that influence mortality become ineffective and/or less powerful if maintenance of physical activity ceases? Genes, physical fitness and ageing. The average age of top competitors in that game is 25.2 years old. Omran AR. The Finnish experience. 2014 Sep;89:1195200. Baker J, Horton S. A review of primary and secondary influences on sport expertise. On the lower end, they can make $28,400 or --- per hour, perhaps when just starting out or based on the state you live in. Both authors declare that they have no competing interests. While Lllgen and colleagues [32] provided evidence of physical activity positively influencing lifespan longevity independent of age and sex, the relationship between participation in elite sport and longevity can enhance our understanding of the benefits of physical activity at the highest levels of competition in unique athletic cohorts. Attaining a complete understanding of an athletes lifespan requires knowledge of the inherent complexity of relationships that link hereditary and environmental characteristics to developmental outcomes. Baron S, Rinsky R. Health hazard evaluation report, National Football League players mortality study. Int J Obes (Lond). 17 Aug 2012. For example, former male Finnish world class athletes were found to be more active than their non-competitive controls [79], and participation in physical activity at a young age predicted later life involvement, which reduced the prevalence of coronary heart disease [80]. Similarly, Teramoto and Bungum [16] completed a narrative review of mortality and longevity of elite athletes; however, a relatively small sample of 14 epidemiological studies was included. Teramoto and Bungums [16] review suggested that the type and dose of elite sport participation may ultimately determine mortality risk. Similar to Teramoto and Bungums [16] findings, the largest gains in lifespan longevities were in endurance and mixed-sport athletes. The information age has made information on elite athletes easy to access, whereas information on elite athletes from the earlier eras often fails to depict the mental and social wellbeing characteristics that encompass holistic health. 2005;83:73157. 1993;2:23744. Currently, it may be premature to make conclusions about the long-term value of being a professional athlete considering the new evidence that has emerged from literature. An updated assessment of baseball player data. 1997;9:3541. To this end, future research of athlete lifespan outcomes can arguably have the greatest impact by determining the causes of mortality. This manuscript does not contain clinical studies or patient data. As a variety of confounders may impact longevity, the reasons for the differences in lifespans between elite athletes and the general population are likely to be multifactorial. Therefore, each sport will have unique statistical variables that may make it more difficult for researchers to draw cross-sport comparisons. Although our overall understanding of modifiable and non-modifiable factors that contribute to mortality risk in elite athletes remains limited, in part due to methodological and data source inconsistencies [29, 30], some trends emerged from our investigation. Report No. Aggleton JP, Bland JM, Kentridge RW, Neave NJ. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, http://www.ohri.ca/programs/clinical_epidemiology/oxford.asp, http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/pdfs/nflfactsheet.pdf, http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2313476, http://grantland.com/features/comparing-mortality-rates-football-baseball/, http://dx.doi.org/10.4085/1062-6050-49.3.18, Significant differences in longevity related to handedness (, Median post-induction survival for HOFs was 5years shorter than for non-inducted players, 18years (CI 15.021.0) vs. 23years (CI 22.123.9) for matched controls (OR=1.37, CI 1.081.73); (death2002), LE: 4.8years longer (SD=15.0); career length increased longevity (, Earlier career debut predicted earlier death (, The most common toxin that lead to death by poisoning was carbon monoxide; low overall risk (death 18891995), Greater longevity overall (SMR=0.31); positive relationship between education and longevity (HR=0.74, CI 0.560.977); black players had a HR 2.47 times greater than white players (19631996 debut), Greater longevity rates throughout the last century (19001999 debut); (SMR=0.87, CI 0.850.89; 19301999), LE: ~5years longer, compared to 20-year-old U.S. males; at 20years, players from the Modern Era can expect to live 65.5 vs. 52.4years and 58.3years from the Early and Golden Eras, respectively (19022004 debut), Greater longevity overall (SMR=0.94); longevity was correlated with position and in-game achievement (19111925 debut), Greater longevity overall, particularly in guards (active 19461994).