Association of Playing High School Football With Cognition and Mental Health Later in Life.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

American football is the largest participation sport in US high schools and is a leading cause of concussion among adolescents. Little is known about the long-term cognitive and mental health consequences of exposure to football-related head trauma at the high school level.

Objective

To estimate the association of playing high school football with cognitive impairment and depression at 65 years of age.

Design, setting, and participants

A representative sample of male high school students who graduated from high school in Wisconsin in 1957 was studied. In this cohort study using data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, football players were matched between March 1 and July 1, 2017, with controls along several baseline covariates such as adolescent IQ, fam

SUBMITTER: Deshpande SK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5710329 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature