Professional rugby players may have greater neurodegenerative disease risk, suggests research
9 Oct 2022
Former international rugby players included in a recent health study showed risks of neurodegenerative diseases that averaged more than 2.5 times that for the general population.
The research led by Honorary Professor William Stewart at Glasgow University School of Psychology and Neuroscience and published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, found that rates of risk also varied widely between different types of disease.
Dementia risks were twice as high as the individuals tested from the general population, those for Parkinson’s were three times greater, while the risk for motor neurone disease (MND) was more than 15 times higher.
Said Stewart: “Of particular concern are the data on motor neurone disease risk among our rugby players, which is even higher than that for former professional footballers. This finding requires immediate research attention to explore the specific association between rugby and the devastating condition of motor neurone disease.”
The work forms part of the FIELD research program, which previously examined links between brain health outcomes and professional football.
“This latest work under our FIELD program of research demonstrates that risk of neurodegenerative disease is not isolated to former footballers, but also a concern for former rugby players,” added Stewart.
“As such, this study provides further insight into the association between contact sports and neurodegenerative disease risk.
The research team examined more than 1,600 people, including 412 one-time Scottish rugby internationals and 1,236 individuals from the general population. It also studied electronic health records and other data regarding deceased Scottish internationals’ causes of death.
While professional footballers surveyed previously showed higher MND risk rates than the general population, the level among rugby players in the latest study is higher still, raising questions perhaps about whether factors involved in one high impact sport account for its different risk level.
In a BBC interview Motor Neurone Disease Association director of research development Brian Dickie welcomed the study while pointing out the recent FIELD research had drawn on a smaller sample than its predecessor. Also, no MND cases were reported in the larger control group, despite its being the most common neurodegenerative disease of mid-life.
The Scottish Rugby Union commented that the research would help improve safety and reduce risk in rugby and other contact games.
