Despite lower risks for other CVD risk factors, former National Football League players are nearly six times more likely than their non-NFL peers to develop atrial fibrillation, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
Lead author Dermot Phelan, MD, PhD, director of the Sports Cardiology Center at the Cleveland Clinic, and colleagues compared 460 middle-aged former NFL players to 925 similarly matched men from the Dallas Heart Study, none of whom had played professional football. Just 0.5% of the control group exhibited AFib; 5% of former NFL players received the same diagnosis.
Other than having played in the NFL, independent predictors for AFib in the study included older age, white race and higher weight, Phelan et al. reported. The NFL group had overall lower risk factors for CVD mortality, type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure and had lower resting heart rates than the control group, but the incidence of AFib remained higher in the study cohort.
Phelan said his colleagues’ study is the first to link an elite sport that requires muscle strength to a greater likelihood of the arrhythmia.
“Although the study was observational, which means it identifies a relationship but does not prove cause and effect, the prolonged strength training involved in American football may increased heart chamber size and wall thickness, which can alter heart rhythms and electrical signals in the heart,” Phelan said in a release. “Most former NFL athletes with AFib were unaware of any symptoms and yet should have been taking blood thinners to prevent stroke, highlighting the importance of being vigilant and intermittently checking for AFib in this group.”
In their study, the authors noted former NFL athletes were also eight times more likely to have pacemakers than the control group.
“For the majority of people, the benefits of both aerobic exercise, such as working with weights, is strongly linked to a healthier heart, and this study should not discourage people from being physically active,” Phelan said. “Mild to moderate exercise reduces the risk of atrial fibrillation for most people.”
After graduating from Indiana University-Bloomington with a bachelor’s in journalism, Anicka joined TriMed’s Chicago team in 2017 covering cardiology. Close to her heart is long-form journalism, Pilot G-2 pens, dark chocolate and her dog Harper Lee.