Cardiovascular disease risk in former National Football League players: Impact of obstructive sleep apnea

IF 4.8 2区医学 Q2 CLINICAL NEUROLOGY

Sleep Health Pub Date : 2026-06-01 Epub Date: 2026-03-17 DOI:10.1016/j.sleh.2026.01.009

Ian M. Greenlund PhD , Marc A. Forgione MD , Scott A. Perryman BA , Jonathan R. Perryman MD , David Gergen CDT , Rodolfo Martínez-Ferraté MD , Joshua M. Bock PhD , Naima Covassin PhD , Jan Bukartyk MS , Ben W. Eidem MD , Arthur J. Roberts MD , Virend K. Somers MD, PhD

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Objectives

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) are common among former National Football League (NFL) athletes. The Living Heart Foundation Heart-Obesity-Prevention-Education Group aimed to provide an in-depth health assessment for CVD risk factors among former NFL players to examine the role of OSA on blood pressure (BP) and echocardiographic measurements. We hypothesized that OSA, maladaptive echocardiographic measurements, and elevated BP would be highly prevalent in former NFL athletes, and that OSA presence would detrimentally impact echocardiographic parameters.

Methods

One hundred fifty-three former NFL athletes were enrolled in the present study by the Living Heart Foundation. Participants (n = 86) completed a cardiovascular health assessment consisting of clinical BP readings and transthoracic echocardiography (TTE), which included measurements of ejection fraction, left atrial size, left ventricle diastolic diameter, intraventricular septal thickness, and ascending aortic diameter. Participants (n = 110) were offered an at-home overnight sleep test to estimate sleep apnea presence and severity.

Results

Eighty percent (n = 80) of our sample exhibited at least mild OSA. Further, 34% (n = 29) displayed elevated intraventricular septal thickness and subclinical aortic dilation was present in 47% (n = 40) of retired NFL athletes. In a subanalysis of former players with at-home sleep apnea testing results and TTE measures (n = 43), NFL retirees with OSA demonstrated greater ascending aortic diameter compared to former NFL athletes without OSA (p = .048).

Conclusions

There is a high prevalence of suspected OSA, in addition to maladaptive cardiac remodeling, among retired NFL athletes. Aortic abnormalities may be related to untreated OSA in this population.

查看原文本刊更多论文

前国家橄榄球联盟球员的心血管疾病风险：阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停的影响。

目的：阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停（OSA）和心血管疾病（CVD）在前美国国家橄榄球联盟（NFL）运动员中很常见。活体心脏基金会心脏-肥胖预防-教育小组旨在为前NFL球员提供心血管疾病危险因素的深入健康评估，以检查OSA对血压（BP）和超声心动图测量的作用。我们假设OSA、不适应超声心动图测量和血压升高在前NFL运动员中非常普遍，并且OSA的存在会对超声心动图参数产生不利影响。方法：153名前NFL运动员被活体心脏基金会纳入本研究。参与者（n = 86）完成了心血管健康评估，包括临床血压读数和经胸超声心动图（TTE），其中包括射血分数、左心房大小、左心室舒张直径、室间隔厚度和升主动脉直径的测量。参与者（n = 110）在家中进行了夜间睡眠测试，以评估睡眠呼吸暂停的存在和严重程度。结果：80% （n = 80）的样本至少表现出轻度OSA。此外，34% （n = 29）的退役NFL运动员显示室间隔厚度升高，47% （n = 40）的退役NFL运动员出现亚临床主动脉扩张。在一项对有家庭睡眠呼吸暂停测试结果和TTE测量的前球员的亚分析中（n = 43），患有OSA的NFL退役球员比没有OSA的前NFL运动员表现出更大的升主动脉直径（p = 0.048）。结论：在退役的NFL运动员中，除了适应性不良的心脏重构外，疑似OSA的患病率也很高。在这一人群中，主动脉异常可能与未经治疗的OSA有关。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Sleep Health CLINICAL NEUROLOGY-

CiteScore

6.30

自引率

9.80%

发文量

114

审稿时长

54 days

期刊介绍： Sleep Health Journal of the National Sleep Foundation is a multidisciplinary journal that explores sleep''s role in population health and elucidates the social science perspective on sleep and health. Aligned with the National Sleep Foundation''s global authoritative, evidence-based voice for sleep health, the journal serves as the foremost publication for manuscripts that advance the sleep health of all members of society.The scope of the journal extends across diverse sleep-related fields, including anthropology, education, health services research, human development, international health, law, mental health, nursing, nutrition, psychology, public health, public policy, fatigue management, transportation, social work, and sociology. The journal welcomes original research articles, review articles, brief reports, special articles, letters to the editor, editorials, and commentaries.