Prevalence of knee pain, radiographic osteoarthritis and arthroplasty in retired professional footballers compared with men in the general population: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of knee pain, radiographic knee osteoarthritis (RKOA), total knee replacement (TKR) and associated risk factors in male ex-professional footballers compared with men in the general population (comparison group).

Methods: 1207 male ex-footballers and 4085 men in the general population in the UK were assessed by postal questionnaire. Current knee pain was defined as pain in or around the knees on most days of the previous month. Presence and severity of RKOA were assessed on standardised radiographs using the Nottingham Line Drawing Atlas (NLDA) in a subsample of 470 ex-footballers and 491 men in the comparison group. The adjusted risk ratio (aRR) and adjusted risk difference (aRD) with 95% CI in ex-footballers compared with the general population were calculated using the marginal model in Stata.

Results: Ex-footballers were more likely than the comparison group to have current knee pain (aRR 1.91, 95% CI 1.77 to 2.06), RKOA (aRR 2.21, 95% CI 1.92 to 2.54) and TKR (aRR 3.61, 95% CI 2.90 to 4.50). Ex-footballers were also more likely to present with chondrocalcinosis (aRR 3.41, 95% CI 2.44 to 4.77). Prevalence of knee pain and RKOA were higher in ex-footballers at all ages. However, even after adjustment for significant knee injury and other risk factors, there was more than a doubling of risk of these outcomes in footballers.

Conclusions: The prevalence of all knee osteoarthritis outcomes (knee pain, RKOA and TKR) were two to three times higher in male ex-footballers compared with men in the general population group. Knee injury is the main attributable risk factor. Even after adjustment for recognised risk factors, knee osteoarthritis appear to be an occupational hazard of professional football.

Keywords: epidemiology; football; osteoarthritis.

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form at www.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.pdf and declare: financial support (research grant) for the submitted work from FIFA Medical Assessment and Research Centre, other from Arthritis Research UK Centre for Sports, Exercise and Osteoarthritis (grant reference 20194); research grant from the Professional Footballers’ Association and financial support from the SPIRE Healthcare Group at the Football Association (St George’s Park); CF did paid consultancy for FIFA Medical Assessment and Research Centre, the Football Association and the Premier League in the past 3 years and has received personal fees from these bodies outside the remit of the submitted work; MD received research funding by AstraZeneca, Nordic Biosciences, Roche, outside the submitted work; Dr Zhang reports grants from Arthritis Research UK, grants from Arthritis Research UK, during the conduct of the study; other from AstraZeneca, other from Daiichi Sankyo, other from Biobarica, other from Hisun, outside the submitted work; no financial relationships with any organisation that might have an interest in the submitted work in the previous 3 years for any other authors; no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.

© Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Figures

Figure 1

Selection of the ex-footballer and the general population groups.

Figure 2

(A) Prevalence of current knee pain by age categories in the ex-footballer and general population; (B) Prevalence of TKR by age categories in the ex-footballer and general population; (C) Prevalence of radiographic knee osteoarthritis by age categories in the ex-footballer and general population.