Olympic athletes live much longer than ‘average Joes’, but elite AFL and rugby players don’t

It’s sheltered to assume that athletes who dedicate their lives to staying fit and well generally live longer.

Elite athletes are expected to live longer Because physically fit people are less likely to die from cardiovascular diseases (heart attacks and strokes) and cancer.

Unfortunately, our recent research suggests this does not appear to be true for elite Australian rules football and rugby players.

What we discovered

Our research examined survival and longevity in three groups of elite Australian male athletes: Australian Football League (AFL) players, national rugby union players (Wallabies), and Summer Olympians participating in cardio sports without a high risk of head injury, such as rowing, swimming, and triathlon.

Before we dive into the details, a few definitions: survival it is a state of continuing to live while longevity is the ability to live a long life that exceeds the average lifespan of people in the general population.

In our study, Olympic athletes lived longer than the general population by 3.4 years. In contrast, neither AFL players nor Wallabies lived significantly longer than the general population.

AFL players lived on average almost four months longer, while Wallabies lived around eight months less than the general population.

We also compared athletes who debuted before and after January 1, 1970, to see whether survival improved over time.

As expected, the younger generation survived better than the older generation. However, similar improvements in survival also occurred in the general population.

In other words, there was no significant improvement in the survival rate of athletes compared to the general population.

These findings are surprising considering the dozens previous studies involving half a million elite athletes indicate that elite athletes typically outlive the general population by four to seven years.

Comparisons with previous studies

Our findings for wallabies are consistent with previous research on elite rugby players Scotland AND New Zealand.

However, our findings regarding AFL players appear to contradict: previous studywhich shows that AFL players have a lower death rate than the general population.

Differences in research methods are likely behind the different results. The most critical of these is the player inclusion criteria.

For the study, we included all players who debuted since 1921, whereas the previous study included players who debuted at any time but omitted players who died before 1970.

In other words, the previous study preferentially excluded older generation players who died teenage. It also preferentially included older generation players who lived into aged age.

This would skew the results of the previous study towards better survival and longevity.

Why aren’t elite AFL and rugby players living longer?

Survival benefits (how long athletes outlive the general population) vary by sport.

Athletes participating in non-cardio sports (such as weightlifting and discus throwing) they do not enjoy the same survival benefits as athletes practicing cardio sports (such as running and swimming).

However, survival benefits also vary between different cardio sports, suggesting that there are additional factors that determine longevity among elite athletes.

The determinants include the characteristics of the sport practiced (whether there is a risk of head injury) and characteristics related to the type of person practicing a given sport (e.g. socioeconomic status).

Unfortunately, in our study we did not have access to information on the causes of death or potential determinants of longevity.

However, we can find some clues from previous research on professionals football AND rugby players from abroad.

These studies have shown that athletes are at risk of death from cardiovascular disease, cancer and respiratory diseases (such as: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), which is consistent with the idea that increased fitness provides survival benefits.

However, the study also found that these athletes had an approximately 140-250% higher risk of dying from neurodegenerative diseases (such as dementia, Parkinson’s disease and motor neurone disease).

The conclusion seems to be that the survival benefit of increased fitness is offset by the increased risk of neurodegenerative diseases.

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Read more: One year on from the Senate concussion inquiry – what has changed and what’s next?

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We don’t know if this explanation applies to AFL players and wallabies, but further research could find out by combining athletes’ data with government death registration data.

This type of research can be high-priced and time-consuming, so unfortunately this time we were unable to secure the required financial resources for it.

Opportunity cost?

Whatever the reasons, the fact that AFL players and wallabies do not survive significantly longer than the general population is a cause for concern.

It suggests that it exists opportunity cost for these athletes.

In other words, by participating in the elite Australian Football and Rugby Association, they gave up the benefits of participating in sports in which athletes outlive the general population by four to seven years.

From a population health perspective, when promoting sports participation, we should consider this opportunity cost.