A career in professional football has been associated with an increased dementia risk in later life. It has been hypothesised that dementia seen within these older generations of players may have been caused by repetitive heading of old leather balls specifically.
Analysis by Loughborough University, published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports, found that dementia risk was not the same across generations of players. Some former players showed a lower risk of early-stage dementia than age-matched controls — but some more recently retired players, who played with modern synthetic balls rather than old leather ones, showed increased cognitive risk relative to controls.
For this latest study, researchers analysed data from the 2023 FOCUS brain health study carried out by the University of Nottingham and Loughborough University, co-funded by The Football Association and The Professional Footballers Association.
The FOCUS study compared results from advanced dementia screening tests of 305 former professional footballers and a similar number of age-matched controls.
The screening tests are sensitive enough to detect subtle cognitive risk up to a decade before formal dementia diagnosis.
This allowed researchers to explore cognitive function and dementia risk in all the footballers studied, not just those who already had formal medical dementia diagnosis. The results across generations were mixed, with some footballers also showing a lower risk of early-stage dementia, reaffirming the well-established health benefits of playing football. However, some of the younger players also had an increased risk, despite not playing with leather balls.
The findings are consistent with Loughborough’s previous research into football heading that showed modern synthetic ball types deliver equal or greater energy transfer magnitude as pressure waves into the brain during heading compared to leather balls.
Professor Andy Harland who oversaw the partnership commented: “I was pleased that we were able to apply new methods from engineering to allow deeper analysis of the age effects within the data. This shows the benefits of cross-disciplinary collaboration to reveal new insights.”
Researcher Dr Ieuan Phillips commented: “This study provides valuable insights into an important, and ever-evolving topic. Whilst these emerging trends need to be explored further, they unfortunately suggest that dementia in footballers is not just a problem of the past.
“I’m grateful to colleagues across organisations and departments for facilitating this cross-disciplinary work. However, there is more to do, and I’m delighted to have the opportunity to continue these investigations going forward.”
Professor Eef Hogervorst, Director of Dementia Studies at Loughborough University, and who was part of the original FOCUS team responsible for dementia screening and who supported this analysis, said:
“Many people have commented on the heavy leather balls being the culprit. However, the data show mixed patterns: not all players had an increased dementia risk, but some recent, younger players did. This needs following up to investigate why and if these players are actually at risk.
“The FA have phased out heading for the youngest players and have introduced guidance for grassroots football, encouraging players to head the ball no more than ten times per week. English football’s guidelines for professional players limits high force headers to ten times per week.
“Taking brain health seriously and following protocols is important to avoid increased brain injury and dementia risk.”
