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Latest Clinical Research Published by ACSM.

Association Between BMI Change and Cardiometabolic Risk in Retired Football Players Professional football is a game played predominantly by very large men. While the body mass index (BMI) of these men can be deceptively high because of their large muscle mass, a playing weight BMI greater than 30 was found to double the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality after retirement from the NFL (1). Trexler and colleagues (2) used data from the Health Survey of Retired NFL Players to examine if increases in BMI after retirement from professional football increased the risk of developing coronary heart disease (CHD), type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM), or high blood pressure (HBP). All subjects were retired professional football players who responded to the Health Survey in 2001. The change in BMI was calculated from the players’ estimate of their playing weight and height, and their current weight and height. Covariates included age, years playing football, anabolic steroid use, smoking, alcohol intake, primary football position, and BMI at retirement. The respondents’ average age was 53.6 yr, with an average of 24.4 yr since retirement. The multivariable model found that an increase in 5 BMI units increased the risk of developing CHD by 31%, DM by 69%, and HBP by 35%. BMI at the time of retirement also was significantly associated with the development of CHD, DM, and HBP, but to a lesser magnitude than change in BMI. To more fully explore the moderating effect of BMI at retirement on the impact of the change in BMI, the cohort was divided into two groups: BMI Q 30 (n = 848), and BMI G30 (n = 1214). In both groups, an increase in BMI of 5 was associated with a significant increased prevalence of DM (adjusted prevalence ratio [PR] 1.89 for nonobese, 1.63 for obese) and HBP (PR 1.41 for non-obese, 1.30 for obese). For CHD, the adjusted PR was 1.27 for nonobese (p = .07) and 1.39 for obese (P = 0.001). The weakness of this study is that all the data were selfreported, much of it requiring recalling facts from several years previous. The questions also were very general. For example, the exercise question was ‘‘Are you currently exercising regularly?’’ The frequency, intensity, and mode of exercise could not be determined. The imprecision of these survey questions makes conclusions regarding the impact of the covariates speculative at best. However, a strong relationship was detected between an increase in BMI and health that is consistent with previous studies. The novel finding in this study, published in the April 2018 issue of Medicine & Science in Sports & ExerciseA (MSSE) is that an increase in BMI increased the risk of CHD, DM, and HBP to a similar degree in both obese and nonobese players. Bottom Line: A BMI increase after retirement significantly increases the risk of developing CHD, DM, and HBP in former NFL players regardless of their ‘‘playing weight’’ BMI.