Dataset Information

Injury, pain, and prescription opioid use among former National Football League (NFL) players.

ABSTRACT: Athletes with injury-related pain, especially National Football League (NFL) players, are at increased risk for opioid use and misuse which may result in medical, psychiatric and social problems. This is the first study to evaluate the intersection of sports pain and opioid use and misuse among former NFL players.A telephone survey of 644 retired NFL players from the 2009 Retired Players Association Directory was conducted (53.4% completion rate) from March to August 2010.Over half (52%) used opioids during their NFL career with 71% reporting misuse. Additionally, 15% of NFL misusers currently misused vs. 5% among players who used just as prescribed during their NFL career. Prevalence of current opioid use was 7%-3 times the rate of the general population. Multivariate analyses indicated that significant NFL pain increased the adjusted odds (AOR) of any current opioid use vs. non-use (AOR 6.76, 95%CI 2.88-15.87), as did moderate to severe mental impairment (AOR 1.88, 95%CI 1.19-2.98) and heavy drinking in the past week (AOR 2.15, 95%CI 1.17-3.98). Undiagnosed concussions singly predicted current misuse vs. use just as prescribed (AOR 4.25, 95%CI 1.12-16.22). Three variables predicted current misuse vs. non-use: significant pain (AOR 8.33, 95%CI 1.98-35.04), undiagnosed concussions (AOR 3.51, 95%CI 1.98-35.04) and heavy drinking (AOR 3.48, 95%CI 1.63-7.41).Players who misused during their NFL career were most likely to misuse currently compared to others. Current misuse was associated with more NFL pain, undiagnosed concussions and heavy drinking. Longitudinal studies are needed to determine the long term effects of opioid misuse among athletes.

SUBMITTER: Cottler LB

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3095672 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Injury, pain, and prescription opioid use among former National Football League (NFL) players.

Cottler Linda B LB Ben Abdallah Arbi A Cummings Simone M SM Barr John J Banks Rayna R Forchheimer Ronnie R

Drug and alcohol dependence 20110128 1-3

<h4>Background</h4>Athletes with injury-related pain, especially National Football League (NFL) players, are at increased risk for opioid use and misuse which may result in medical, psychiatric and social problems. This is the first study to evaluate the intersection of sports pain and opioid use and misuse among former NFL players.<h4>Methods</h4>A telephone survey of 644 retired NFL players from the 2009 Retired Players Association Directory was conducted (53.4% completion rate) from March to ...[more]

PMID: 21277121

Similar Datasets

Project description:ImportancePilot studies that involved early imaging of the 18 kDa translocator protein (TSPO) using positron emission tomography (PET) indicated high levels of TSPO in the brains of active or former National Football League (NFL) players. If validated further in larger studies, those findings may have implications for athletes involved in collision sport.ObjectiveTo test for higher TSPO that marks brain injury and repair in a relatively large, unique cohort of former NFL players compared with former elite, noncollision sport athletes.Design, setting, and participantsThis cross-sectional study used carbon 11-labeled N,N-diethyl-2-(4-methoxyphenyl)-5,7-dimethylpyrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidine-3-acetamide positron emission tomography ([11C]DPA-713 PET) data from former NFL players within 12 years of last participation in the NFL and elite noncollision sport athletes from across the US. Participants were enrolled between April 2018 and February 2023.Main outcomes and measuresRegional [11C]DPA-713 total distribution volume from [11C]DPA-713 PET that is a measure of regional brain TSPO; regional brain volumes on magnetic resonance imaging; neuropsychological performance, including attention, executive function, and memory domains.ResultsThis study included 27 former NFL players and 27 former elite, noncollision sport athletes. Regional TSPO levels were higher in former NFL players compared with former elite, noncollision sport athletes (unstandardized β coefficient, 1.08; SE, 0.22; 95% CI, 0.65 to 1.52; P < .001). The magnitude of the group difference depended on region, with largest group differences in TSPO in cingulate and frontal cortices as well as hippocampus. Compared with noncollision sport athletes, former NFL players performed worse in learning (mean difference [MD], -0.70; 95% CI, -1.14 to -0.25; P = .003) and memory (MD, -0.77; 95% CI, -1.24 to -0.30; P = .002), with no correlation between total gray matter TSPO and these cognitive domains.Conclusions and relevanceIn this cross-sectional study using [11C]DPA-713 PET, higher brain TSPO was found in former NFL players compared with noncollision sport athletes. This finding is consistent with neuroimmune activation even after cessation of NFL play. Future longitudinal [11C]DPA-713 PET and neuropsychological testing promises to inform whether neuroimmune-modulating therapy may be warranted.

Project description:BackgroundChronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disease that has been associated with a history of repetitive head impacts. The neuropathological diagnosis is based on a specific pattern of tau deposition with minimal amyloid-beta deposition that differs from other disorders, including Alzheimer's disease. The feasibility of detecting tau and amyloid deposition in the brains of living persons at risk for CTE has not been well studied.MethodsWe used flortaucipir positron-emission tomography (PET) and florbetapir PET to measure deposition of tau and amyloid-beta, respectively, in the brains of former National Football League (NFL) players with cognitive and neuropsychiatric symptoms and in asymptomatic men with no history of traumatic brain injury. Automated image-analysis algorithms were used to compare the regional tau standardized uptake value ratio (SUVR, the ratio of radioactivity in a cerebral region to that in the cerebellum as a reference) between the two groups and to explore the associations of SUVR with symptom severity and with years of football play in the former-player group.ResultsA total of 26 former players and 31 controls were included in the analysis. The mean flortaucipir SUVR was higher among former players than among controls in three regions of the brain: bilateral superior frontal (1.09 vs. 0.98; adjusted mean difference, 0.13; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.06 to 0.20; P<0.001), bilateral medial temporal (1.23 vs. 1.12; adjusted mean difference, 0.13; 95% CI, 0.05 to 0.21; P<0.001), and left parietal (1.12 vs. 1.01; adjusted mean difference, 0.12; 95% CI, 0.05 to 0.20; P = 0.002). In exploratory analyses, the correlation coefficients in these three regions between the SUVRs and years of play were 0.58 (95% CI, 0.25 to 0.79), 0.45 (95% CI, 0.07 to 0.71), and 0.50 (95% CI, 0.14 to 0.74), respectively. There was no association between tau deposition and scores on cognitive and neuropsychiatric tests. Only one former player had levels of amyloid-beta deposition similar to those in persons with Alzheimer's disease.ConclusionsA group of living former NFL players with cognitive and neuropsychiatric symptoms had higher tau levels measured by PET than controls in brain regions that are affected by CTE and did not have elevated amyloid-beta levels. Further studies are needed to determine whether elevated CTE-associated tau can be detected in individual persons. (Funded by Avid Radiopharmaceuticals and others.).

Project description:Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a tauopathy that affects individuals with a history of repetitive mild traumatic brain injury, such as American football players. Initial neuropathologic changes in CTE include perivascular deposition of phosphorylated microtubule-associated protein tau (p-tau) neurofibrillary tangles and other aggregates in neurons, astrocytes and cell processes in an irregular pattern often at the depths of the cortical sulci. In later stages, the p-tau depositions become widespread and is associated with neurodegeneration. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are known to carry neuropathogenic molecules, most notably p-tau. We therefore examined the protein composition of EVs isolated from the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of former National Football League (NFL) players with cognitive and neuropsychiatric dysfunction, and an age-matched control group (CTRL) with no history of contact sports or traumatic brain injury. EVs were isolated from the CSF samples using an affinity purification kit. Total tau (t-tau) and tau phosphorylated on threonine181 (p-tau181) in CSF-derived EVs from former NFL players and CTRL participants were measured by ultrasensitive immunoassay. The t-tau and p-tau181 levels of CSF-derived EV were positively correlated with the t-tau and p-tau181 levels of total CSF in former NFL players, respectively, but not in the CTRL group. 429 unique proteins were identified from CSF-derived EVs and quantified by TMT-10 plex method. The identified protein molecules were significantly enriched for the extracellular exosome molecules, Alzheimer's disease pathway and Age/Telomere Length ontology as determined by DAVID Gene Ontology analysis. Ingenuity pathway analysis of the differentially expressed EV proteins revealed enrichment of canonical liver/retinoid X receptor activation pathway. Upstream effect analysis predicted MAPT (tau) as an upstream regulator in former NFL players. These data will be useful for understanding the EV-mediated disease spread and development of novel EV biomarkers for CTE and related disorders.

Dataset Information

Injury, pain, and prescription opioid use among former National Football League (NFL) players.

Publications

Injury, pain, and prescription opioid use among former National Football League (NFL) players.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets