ARE PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALLERS AT RISK OF DEVELOPING DEMENTIA

Football is a contact sport which involves heading the ball and clash of heads, both having the potential for causing repetitive minor head injury. Much of the research on the association between football and A lzheimer's disease (AD) is flawed, but what is available suggests that footballers are more likely to have EEG abnormalities, cortical atrop hy and mild neurological abnormalities than controls. It is also known that head injury may precipitate a cascade of events leading to AD pa thology by increasing the expression of amyloid precursor protein and increasing amyloid deposition. It is not known if footballers have an increased risk of dementia, but it is possible that they do. Preventat ive action could be taken by football's governing bodies to reduce the risk of brain damage as a result of head injury and subsequent develo pment of dementia.