NEW YORK (AP) — The NFL is telling retirees about a medical study that says former players live longer than men in the general population.
While player safety issues related to brain trauma and other football-related injuries dominate the headlines, the study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) found 334 deceased men in a sampling of 3,439 former NFL players. Estimates for the general population anticipated 625 deaths.
Players in the study participated at least five seasons from 1959 through 1988. Causes of death such as cancer and heart disease were areas of concentration.
NIOSH is also studying neurological causes of death among the NFL players in the study, including Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s and ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease).
