NFL Players More Apt to Develop Alzheimer's Disease

Retired National Football League players face a higher risk for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) - a kind of dementia related to Alzheimer's disease - than do similarly aged men who do not play football, according to new research presented Monday at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference 2011 in Paris.

In 2001, all 3,729 retired NFL players who belonged to the NFL Players' Association were mailed a general health survey. In 2008, an additional survey specifically focusing on memory issues (including an Alzheimer's screening questionnaire known as the AD8) was sent to all players over age 50 who responded to the first survey. A total of 513 follow-up surveys were returned with the AD8 completed by both the former player and his spouse. The mean age of all the players who responded was 61, and more than 35 percent of respondents had an AD8 score that suggested possible dementia. By comparison, according to the Alzheimer's Association, only 13 percent of all Americans 65 and older has Alzheimer's.

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