A study reveals that soccer players are at a higher risk of having brain problems after the age of 65

Soccer players are at higher risk for brain health problems after age 65 compared to the rest of the population, as revealed by a study published this Friday in the UK.

The SCORES reportled by researchers at the University of East Anglia, in eastern England, he came to this conclusion after analyzing the results of a series of tests carried out on the Internet to remotely evaluate cognitive functions and monitor brain evolution.

Of 145 former professional footballers participated in the study. Of them, 55 are over 65 years old.

The conclusions of the study were that former players between the ages of 40 and 50 perform better than the general populationbut that the trend begins to reverse over the years.

“It’s when you hit 65 that things start to get worsesaid Dr Michael Gray, who leads the SCORES study.

And he elaborated: “Footballers over 65 have the worst results in fields such as reaction time, executive functions (which above all allow you to manage and control non-routine situations or to perform several actions simultaneously) or spatialization. They are clearly harbingers of a decline in brain health.”

This new study goes in the same direction as the conclusions of a survey conducted by the University of Glasgow, which revealed it former footballers were three and a half times more likely to die from a neurodegenerative disease than the general populationsuch as dementia or Parkinson’s disease.

Research of this type has promoted awareness of the impact of sports practices on brain health and has led to claims of improved protection for football players.

The SCORES study has not ended, but will continue for the next few years, in order to gain breadth and achieve more precise results by increasing the sample.

“This will give us a very clear picture of the potential damage caused by head-firing the ball,” explained Dr Grey, who announced they were looking to extend the study to include women’s football.

The family of Nobby Stilessoccer world champion in 1966 with England and died in 2020 suffering from dementia, announced last month that he intended to sue the English FA, accusing it of failing to protect players sufficiently against the risk of brain damage .

With information from AFP.