Is the call to reduce heading exposure in professional football to prevent dementia evidence-based?

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dc.contributor.author Gouttebarge, Vincent
dc.date.accessioned 2021-09-08T05:39:10Z
dc.date.available 2021-09-08T05:39:10Z
dc.date.issued 2021
dc.description.abstract A Scottish study found in 2019 that the mortality from neurodegenerative diseases, particularly dementia, was higher in former professional footballers than in the general population. Dementia is a syndrome of progressive deterioration in various brain functions (eg, memory, thinking, ability to perform activities) beyond what might be expected within normal ageing. Several risk factors for dementia have been established, including ageing, low education, low mental activity, obesity, physical inactivity, depression and traumatic brain injury. Principally in the wake of the aforementioned Scottish study, professional football stakeholders, former players, charities and media have repeatedly been calling to reduce heading in professional football in order to prevent dementia. However, Is this call currently backed with sufficient and robust epidemiological evidence? This editorial reflects on several key questions that must be answered before we can provide decision-makers with concrete and safe evidence-based guidelines for professional football. en_ZA
dc.description.department Sports Medicine en_ZA
dc.description.librarian pm2021 en_ZA
dc.description.uri http://bmjopensem.bmj.com en_ZA
dc.identifier.citation Gouttebarge, V. Is the call to reduce heading exposure in professional football to prevent dementia evidence-based? BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine 2021;7:e001076. doi:10.1136/bmjsem-2021-001076. en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn 2055-7647 (online)
dc.identifier.other 10.1136/ bmjsem-2021-001076
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/2263/81719
dc.language.iso en en_ZA
dc.publisher BMJ Publishing Group en_ZA
dc.rights © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. en_ZA
dc.subject Professional footballers en_ZA
dc.subject Dementia en_ZA
dc.subject Neurodegenerative diseases en_ZA
dc.subject Heading exposure
dc.title Is the call to reduce heading exposure in professional football to prevent dementia evidence-based? en_ZA
dc.type Article en_ZA


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