Causes of death in NBA players: a competing risks analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To analyse the causes of death and factors associated with mortality among NBA players using verifiable open-source data and a time-to-event approach accounting for competing risks.

Methods

This retrospective cohort study included all 4374 former and active NBA players from 1946 to July 2019. Players who exclusively played in the American Basketball Association were excluded. The main exposure was participation in the NBA. The primary outcome was cause-specific death, categorised into: neoplasms, cardiovascular diseases, external causes and idiopathic. Ethnicity and height were assessed as predictors using cause-specific adjusted Cox models.

Results

By July 2019, 864 players (19.8%) had died, 855 of them identified as African ancestry or European ancestry. A

SUBMITTER: Martinez JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12863353 | biostudies-literature | 2026

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature