Study Finds High Dementia, Arthritis Rates
A study commissioned by the NFL to assess the health and well-being of retired players found that they reported being diagnosed with dementia and other memory-related diseases at a rate significantly higher than that of the general population. The study also found a greatly increased rate of arthritis being reported by the former NFL players but found reduced rates of diabetes, heart attacks and strokes. The 37-page study was conducted by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research and its findings were based on a telephone survey of 1,063 retired NFL players conducted last November and December. Researchers found that 6.1 percent of retired NFL players age 50 and above reported receiving a diagnosis of dementia, Alzheimer's disease or other memory-related disease, compared to 1.2 percent for all comparably aged U.S. men, and 1.9 percent of players ages 30 to 49 indicated they'd received such a diagnosis, compared
