Abstract
Objective
To perform a meta-analysis of cohort studies aimed at providing an accurate overview
of mortality in elite athletes.
Patients and Methods
We reviewed English-language scientific articles available in Medline and Web of Science
databases following the recommendations of the Meta-analyses Of Observational Studies
in Epidemiology group. We searched for publications on longevity and professional or elite athletes (with no restriction on the starting date and up to March 31, 2014).
Results
Ten studies, including data from a total of 42,807 athletes (707 women), met all inclusion
criteria. The all-cause pooled standard mortality ratio (SMR) was 0.67 (95% CI, 0.55-0.81;
P<.001) with no evidence of publication bias (P=.24) but with significant heterogeneity among studies (I2=96%; Q=224.46; P<.001). Six studies provided data on cardiovascular disease (CVD) and 5 on cancer
(in a total of 35,920 and 12,119 athletes, respectively). When only CVD was considered
as a cause of mortality, the pooled SMR was 0.73 (95% CI, 0.65-0.82; P<.001) with no evidence of bias (P=.68) or heterogenity among studies (I2=38%; Q=8.07; P=.15). The SMR for cancer was 0.60 (95% CI, 0.38-0.94; P=.03) with no evidence of bias (P=.20) despite a significant heterogeneity (I2=91%; Q=44.21; P<.001).
Conclusion
The evidence available indicates that top-level athletes live longer than the general
population and have a lower risk of 2 major causes of mortality, namely, CVD and cancer.
Abbreviations and Acronyms:
CVD (cardiovascular disease), SMR (standard mortality rate)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: August 12, 2014
Footnotes
For editorial comment, see page 1171; for a related article, see page 1187
Identification
Copyright
© 2014 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.