Athletes who peak early live shorter lives, study suggests

Baseball and basketball players, whose athletic ability peaked earlier or declined faster, had significantly shorter lifespans. This is what is suggested by a study conducted by Saul Newman, of the Leverhulme Center for Demographic Science, of the University of Oxford (England), published in the scientific journal The progress of science.

What you need to know:

Newman explored data on the height, weight and performance of athletes and studied data on baseball greats such as Willie Mays, Yogi Berra and Sugar Cain.

This study concludes that data on athletic performance early in life can be used to predict mortality and late aging in elite male athletes. The increased use of wearable technologies provides an excellent opportunity to test this relationship across broader spectrums of the population, now that much of it monitors physical activity data such as elite athletes.

Saul Newman, researcher at the Leverhulme Center for Demographic Science, Oxford University

Study results

The research found that those who peaked earlier had a 1.2 year shorter adult life expectancy, while those who maintained athletic performance longer had a 0.8 year longer life expectancy.

These differences had surprising and complex links to aging. Athletes who peaked at different ages, or whose abilities declined at different rates, also appear to age at different rates.

Those who peaked later had death rates that doubled every 7.6 years of age, the study found.

Athletes who peaked early had death rates that doubled every 8.4 years of age, with their odds of dying increasing more slowly with age. This potentially indicates slower aging rates despite a shorter lifespan.

Athletes who peaked earlier and maintained athletic performance for a shorter period than their peers had a significantly lower life expectancy than those who peaked later and maintained athletic performance longer .

Additionally, one study found that athletes whose athletic ability declined at different rates also had very different death rates. This gap in mortality rates persisted for at least 40 years after retirement.

Unexpected discoveries about athletes

Research has found a positive association between height and late mortality rates in baseball and basketball players. This means that taller athletes were more likely to die sooner.

Additionally, one of the graphs in the study shows how batting averages for Willie Mays, Yogi Berra, and Sugar Cain, for example, peaked at different ages and subsequently declined with age. This and other research findings suggest that athletes have a single peak in overall performance, rather than different peaks at different ages.

We know that reaction times, motor functions, aerobic and anaerobic performance decrease with the onset of aging. However, little is known about the effect of physiological decline in early life on mortality. With this study, I hoped to gain insight into this relationship by examining unique and rich historical data from elite athletes, which captures the early childhood physical prowess of a unique group of people.

Saul Newman, researcher at the Leverhulme Center for Demographic Science, Oxford University

With information from express doctor

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