Fighting and Penalty Minutes Associated With Long-term Mortality Among National Hockey League Players, 1967 to 2022.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

National Hockey League (NHL) players are exposed to frequent head trauma. The long-term consequences of repetitive brain injury, especially for players who frequently engage in fighting, remains unknown.

Objective

To investigate the mortality rates and causes of death among NHL enforcers with more career fights and penalty minutes as compared with matched controls.

Design, setting, and participants

This matched cohort study examined 6039 NHL players who participated in at least 1 game in the seasons between October 11, 1967, and April 29, 2022, using official NHL data. Cohorts designated as enforcer-fighter (E-F) and enforcer-penalties (E-P) were selected. The E-F cohort consisted of players who participated in 50 or more career fights (n = 331). The E-P co

SUBMITTER: Popkin CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10173025 | biostudies-literature | 2023 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature