Health among Retired Great Britain's Olympic Athletes: A cross-sectional Study of Disease and Multimorbidity.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Currently, there is a paucity of long-term health data for retired athletes. This study describes the prevalence of common morbidities and multimorbidity among retired Great Britain's (GB) Olympic athletes, compared to a general population comparator group.

Methods

A cross-sectional study of retired athletes was undertaken. The English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) served as the reference population. Age- and sex-standardized morbidity ratios (SMRs) and odd ratios (ORs) determined where morbidity and multimorbidity prevalence amongst retired athletes exceeded or were inferior to those of the reference population.

Results

Retired athletes (n = 493) were less likely (SMR < 1) than controls (n = 8024) to report diabetes (0.43, 99% CI 0.22, 0.74), stroke

SUBMITTER: Cooper DJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12332171 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature