2007-03-13 23:39:53 -
BALTIMORE, March 13 /PRNewswire/ -- When 49ers offensive lineman Thomas Herrion died after a preseason game in 2005, a whirlwind of speculation about the health of pro football players ignited. Herrion was 23.
Is heredity to blame for his heart disease or was it the 320 pounds on his 6-foot, three inch frame? The cause of his death remains controversial, but scrutiny over the health effects of the increasing size of NFL players has certainly increased.
"The size of players has dramatically increased over the past 20 to 25
years," said Dr. Andrew Tucker, head physician for the Baltimore Ravens, and Director of Sports Medicine at Union Memorial Hospital. "And that certainly comes from increased muscle mass, but in some players, may come in part, from an increase in body fat. Higher levels of body fact can increase the risk of known cardiovascular risk factors like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes."
The National Football League appointed Dr. Tucker to chair a committee to investigate these issues in a newly launched study. Dr. Tucker and his committee selected Dr. Andrew Lincoln, Director of Orthopedics / Sports Health Research of Medstar Research Institute, to serve as study coordinator. The study, Prevalence of Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors Among Professional Football Players, will begin compiling data this spring.
Using information from physical exams, lab data, questionnaires, sleep studies, echocardiograms and ultrasound images of carotid studies, the study will examine 700 professional players from twelve teams. That data will be compared against that of a pool of age matched men, provided by the National Institute of Health.
Compilation will be completed in the fall for analysis. The research team projects they will submit a report of the overall findings to the NFL later this year.
"This tremendous undertaking will yield very valuable information about the cardiovascular health status of our current professional players," Dr. Tucker added.
Source: Medstar
