Study Finds NFL Players Live Longer

{fshare id=2848}

The final results from a records-based study of all NFL retirees who played in the NFL for at least five seasons from 1959 through 1988 were recently released by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).

NIOSH, a government research agency within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), compared the rates and causes of death among this group of 3,439 NFL players to what would be expected among men in the general population to see if there was a difference.

Among the study’s results, NIOSH found that NFL players had “a much lower rate of death overall” compared to men in the general population. This means that players, on average, are living longer than men in the general population.

Likewise, the risk of dying of heart disease was lower compared to the general population. Players in the study also had a much lower rate of cancer-related deaths than the general population.