Ex-NFL Linemen Prone to Heart Disease

[January 31, 2007] After their playing days are done, many National Football League linemen suffer from a health syndrome that puts them at significant risk for cardiovascular disease.

That condition, called metabolic syndrome, may include symptoms such as an enlarged heart, sleep apnea, abdominal obesity and high blood pressure, according to a study by Dr. Arthur Roberts, a former NFL quarterback, a retired heart surgeon, and president of the Living Heart Foundation.

Linemen, who are the largest players and typically weigh in at 300 to 350 pounds, are twice as likely to develop these conditions as other retired football players. "When you break it down, the main risk factor is their large body size," Dr. Roberts says.

Bigger Is Better On the Line but Is It Healthy in the Long Run?

NFL players play a contact sport that leaves them with many chronic bone and joint injuries, which makes exercising difficult after they retire, Dr. Roberts says. "In addition, the requirement for large body size, which is getting bigger and bigger, is also known to be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease," he says.

These players need to lose weight, reduce their food consumption and continue to exercise, Dr. Roberts says. "This is not easy for many of the players who sustain back, neck, knee, and shoulder injuries while playing," he says.

One expert thinks that even while these pro athletes are in their prime, weighing more than 300 pounds is not healthy.

"It is well known that obesity increases the risk of many diseases, including metabolic syndrome, an enlarged heart, and obstructive sleep apnea," says Dr. Byron K. Lee, an assistant professor of cardiology at the University of California, San Francisco.

"Unfortunately, in some sports, being heavy is helpful and therefore encouraged," Dr. Lee says. "NFL linemen now are frequently over 300 pounds. Most doctors would agree that being this heavy, even for a professional athlete, is not healthy."

But the problem is not confined to professional football. As the demand for bigger, heavier players continues to grow, 50 percent of high school football linemen are  overweight, and one in 10 are severely obese, according to a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Results Alarming

So far, the researchers have found that 52 percent of the lineman have metabolic syndrome, in which a person has three or more of the following conditions: abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high triglycerides (blood fats) and low HDL (good) cholesterol. This is more than double the rate of metabolic syndrom for other retired players and the general US population.

Linemen also have a higher rate of diabetes, thicker heart walls and a greater rate of obesity and high blood pressure. They are also 54 percent more likely to have enlarged hearts than other NFL players. Among lineman, 37 percent had enlarged hearts, compared with 25 percent of other retired players.

Many athletes have enlarged hearts from intense conditioning, but usually their hearts return to normal size after they retire, Dr. Roberts says. But this new research suggests otherwise for ex-lineman. An enlarged heart is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

Seventy-five percent of retired linemen also have sleep apnea, compared with 50 percent of other retired players, and 7 percent to 10 percent of the general population, Dr. Roberts says. Sleep apnea increases the risk for heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure, and daytime drowsiness.

Study Continues

Of 900 retired players screened during the last three years, Dr. Roberts has compiled and analyzed health information on 550 of them. Dr. Robert's group plans to screen 60 more retired players on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 - most while attending Super Bowl XLI on Feb. 4 in Miami.

Dr. Lori Croft, who worked on collecting and analyzing the data with Dr. Roberts, is not sure why linemen, in particular, develop these problems.

"We don't know if it's because they are big guys who stay big that gives them all the risk factors for cardiovascular disease, or is it because they train differently," says Dr.Croft, associate director of the echocardiography lab at Mount Sinai Heart and an assistant professor of medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City.

To avoid the heart risks brought on by excess weight, Dr. Roberts thinks retired linemen need to drastically modify the lifestyle of their playing days.

"Once these players finish their playing days, or once high school and college athletes who are trying to reach the high level of excellence in the NFL finish getting as far as they can reach, they need to be concerned about weight management," Dr. Roberts says.

Always consult your physician for more information.