Why the study?
Does extensive athletic participation affect longevity and cardiovascular mortality in former male college athletes?
Does extensive athletic participation affect longevity and cardiovascular mortality in former male college athletes?
Extensive college athletic participation was associated with increased cardiovascular mortality compared to lesser participation among former male athletes.
Extensive college athletics may raise long-term cardiovascular mortality in men; hypothesis-generating and requires prospective validation before practice implications.
Among 681 former Harvard College athletes (lettermen), longevity and cardiovascular mortality differed not by type of sport but by extent of participation. Relative to one-letter and two-letter athletes, men with three or more letters died slightly earlier from natural causes, and significantly more often and slightly earlier from cardiovascular diseases and (specifically) coronary heart disease. The three-or-more-letter athletes differed in physique, being significantly more mesomorphic (muscular, bony) than the other two groups. Further analysis suggested that physique did not account for these differences; other possible explanations were discussed.
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Anthony P. Polednak (1972) studied this question.
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