Soccer-Footballs should be sold with health warning, says dementia expert

The risk of developing neurodegenerative disease in xo168 former professional soccer players varies by position and career length but not by playing era, according to a landmark study.

Research from Professor Willie Stewart, who leads the FIELD (Football's Influence on Lifelong Health and Dementia Risk) study, previously found that former footballers are 3.5 times more likely to die with dementia than the general public.

New research has shown that outfield players were four times more likely to be diagnosed with neurodegenerative disease with the risk being highest among defenders, who are five times more likely to have dementia than non-footballers.

The study, which compared health records of 7,676 Scottish male players, found that the risk increased with the length of their careers, but the findings remained the same for players regardless of the era in which they competed.

"With the current data, we're now at the point to suggest that football should be sold with a health warning saying repeated heading in football may lead to an increased risk of dementia," Stewart said.

"The data from this paper is the missing link in trying to understand this connection between sport and dementia... There is no other proposed risk factor and this is one we could really address and eliminate this disease.