Why the study?
Does participation in elite Olympic sports affect overall longevity and cause-specific mortality compared to the general population?
Does participation in elite Olympic sports affect overall longevity and cause-specific mortality compared to the general population?
While US Olympic athletes enjoy a 5-year longevity advantage driven by lower cardiovascular and cancer mortality, this benefit is partially offset by increased neurodegenerative mortality associated with repeated head trauma in collision sports.
In a recent study of 8124 US Olympic athletes, Antero et al. found that the US Olympic athletes live 5 years longer than their general counterparts. This longevity advantage was mainly driven by the lower risk of the major two causes of death, i.e. cardiovascular diseases and cancer. This survival advantage spared elite athletes and saved a large and significant amount of life compared to their counterparts in the general population.
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Yamazaki et al. (2022) studied this question.
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