American Journal of Cardiology
Volume 105, Issue 8 , Pages 1107-1111 , 15 April 2010

Incidence of Subclinical Atherosclerosis as a Marker of Cardiovascular Risk in Retired Professional Football Players

  • R. Todd Hurst, MD

      Affiliations

    • Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, Arizona
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author
    • ,
  • Robert F. Burke, MD

      Affiliations

    • Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, Arizona
    • ,
  • Erik Wissner, MD

      Affiliations

    • Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, Arizona
    • ,
  • Arthur Roberts, MD

      Affiliations

    • Living Heart Foundation, Little Silver, New Jersey
    • ,
  • Christopher B. Kendall, BS, RDCS

      Affiliations

    • Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, Arizona
    • ,
  • Steven J. Lester, MD

      Affiliations

    • Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, Arizona
    • ,
  • Virend Somers, MD, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, Arizona
    • ,
  • Martin E. Goldman, MD

      Affiliations

    • Cardiovascular Institute and Center for Cardiovascular Health, Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, New York
    • ,
  • Qing Wu, ScD

      Affiliations

    • Division of Biostatistics, Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, Arizona
    • ,
  • Bijoy Khandheria, MD

      Affiliations

    • Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, Arizona

Received 6 August 2009 ,Revised 3 December 2009 ,Accepted 3 December 2009.

References 

  1. Baron S, Rinsky R. NIOSH mortality study of NFL football players: 1959-1988. Cincinnati, Ohio: National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health; 1994;
  2. Harp JB, Hecht L. Obesity in the National Football League. JAMA. 2005;293:1061–1062
  3. Peeters A, Barendregt JJ, Willekens F, Mackenbach JP, Al Mamun A, Bonneux L NEDCOM, the Netherlands Epidemiology and Demography Compression of Morbidity Research Group. Obesity in adulthood and its consequences for life expectancy: a life-table analysis. Ann Intern Med. 2003;138:24–32
  4. Madala MC, Franklin BA, Chen AY, Berman AD, Roe MT, Peterson ED, et al. Obesity and age of first non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2008;52:979–985
  5. Miller MA, Croft LB, Belanger AR, Romero-Corral A, Somers VK, Roberts AJ, et al. Prevalence of metabolic syndrome in retired National Football League players. Am J Cardiol. 2008;101:1281–1284
  6. George CF, Kab V, Kab P, Villa JJ, Levy AM. Sleep and breathing in professional football players. Sleep Med. 2003;4:317–325
  7. Hargrove T. Supersized in the NFL: many ex-players dying young. http://nflretirees.blogspot.com/2006/02/supersized-in-nfl-many-ex-players.htmlAccessed on July 13, 2009
  8. Manson JE, Hu FB, Rich-Edwards JW, Colditz GA, Stampfer MJ, Willett WC, et al. A prospective study of walking as compared with vigorous exercise in the prevention of coronary heart disease in women. N Engl J Med. 1999;341:650–658
  9. Andersen LB, Schnohr P, Schroll M, Hein HO. All-cause mortality associated with physical activity during leisure time, work, sports, and cycling to work. Arch Intern Med. 2000;160:1621–1628
  10. Paffenbarger RS, Hyde RT, Wing AL, Lee IM, Jung DL, Kampert JB. The association of changes in physical-activity level and other lifestyle characteristics with mortality among men. N Engl J Med. 1993;328:538–545
  11. Belcaro G, Nicolaides AN, Ramaswami G, Cesarone MR, De Sanctis M, Incandela L, et al. Carotid and femoral ultrasound morphology screening and cardiovascular events in low risk subjects: a 10-year follow-up study (the CAFES-CAVE study[1]). Atherosclerosis. 2001;156:379–387
  12. Wyman RA, Mays ME, McBride PE, Stein JH. Ultrasound-detected carotid plaque as a predictor of cardiovascular events. Vasc Med. 2006;11:123–130
  13. Grundy SM, Cleeman JI, Daniels SR, Donato KA, Eckel RH, Franklin BA, et al. Diagnosis and management of the metabolic syndrome: an American Heart Association/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Scientific Statement. Circulation. 2005;112:2735–2752Errata in Circulation 2005;112:e297–e298
  14. de Onis M, Habicht JP. Anthropometric reference data for international use: recommendations from a World Health Organization Expert Committee. Am J Clin Nutr. 1996;64:650–658
  15. Salonen R, Seppanen K, Rauramaa R, Salonen JT. Prevalence of carotid atherosclerosis and serum cholesterol levels in eastern Finland. Arteriosclerosis. 1988;8:788–792
  16. Prati P, Vanuzzo D, Casaroli M, Di Chiara A, De Biasi F, Feruglio GA, et al. Prevalence and determinants of carotid atherosclerosis in a general population. Stroke. 1992;23:1705–1711
  17. Zureik M, Ducimetiere P, Touboul PJ, Courbon D, Bonithon-Kopp C, Berr C, et al. Common carotid intima-media thickness predicts occurrence of carotid atherosclerotic plaques: longitudinal results from the Aging Vascular Study (EVA) study. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2000;20:1622–1629
  18. Spence JD, Eliasziw M, DiCicco M, Hackam DG, Galil R, Lohmann T. Carotid plaque area: a tool for targeting and evaluating vascular preventive therapy. Stroke. 2002;33:2916–2922
  19. Salonen JT, Salonen R. Ultrasonographically assessed carotid morphology and the risk of coronary heart disease. Arterioscler Thromb. 1991;11:1245–1249
  20. van der Meer IM, Bots ML, Hofman A, del Sol AI, van der Kuip DA, Witteman JC. Predictive value of noninvasive measures of atherosclerosis for incident myocardial infarction: the Rotterdam Study. Circulation. 2004;109:1089–1094
  21. Stork S, van den Beld AW, von Schacky C, Angermann CE, Lamberts SW, Grobbee DE, et al. Carotid artery plaque burden, stiffness, and mortality risk in elderly men: a prospective, population-based cohort study. Circulation. 2004;110:344–348
  22. National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults (Adult Treatment Panel III). Third Report of the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults (Adult Treatment Panel III) final report. Circulation. 2002;106:3143–3421
  23. Myers J, Prakash M, Froelicher V, Do D, Partington S, Atwood JE. Exercise capacity and mortality among men referred for exercise testing. N Engl J Med. 2002;346:793–801

PII: S0002-9149(09)02840-9

doi: 10.1016/j.amjcard.2009.12.012

American Journal of Cardiology
Volume 105, Issue 8 , Pages 1107-1111 , 15 April 2010

Article Tools