Researchers at the Hospital Clínic-Idibaps in Barcelona have associated in a study the development of a REM sleep behavior disorder and then Parkinson’s dementia with suffering hits in the head during professional contact sports, such as soccer, during youth.
The medical director of the hospital, Antoni Castells, presented at a press conference on Tuesday the results of the work published in the ‘Journal of Neurology’ and associated be a soccer player professional in Spain with later developing these diseases.
In the study they have participated 228 patients from the Clínic with REM phase disorder, a disorder that usually affects people over 50 years of age, especially men, who have nightmares when sleeping that lead them to scream, kick and cry, among other attitudes.
People with this disorder are at risk of developing either dementia with Lewy bodies, an “Alzheimer-like” pathology, or Parkinson’s disease: at five years, 25% of these people will develop one of these diseases; at 10 years, 75%; and at 15 years, 90%.
In this study, the researchers have drawn a “hypothetical line” that goes from the practice of sports to the development of a disease neurodegenerative disease and has identified that, of the 228 participants, 2.63% were professional soccer players during their youth.
Of these six former professional soccer players who now have REM sleep disorder, five have developed a disease neurodegenerative: three have Parkinson’s and two have Lewy body dementia.
They have compared the results with a control group of 228 patients with other sleep disorders and with the percentage of the Spanish population between 18 and 30 years of age who were professional footballers in the 1960s and 1970s and have observed a “predisposition” regarding to the control group.
replicate the study
The Clínic neurologist and head of the Idibaps Clinical Neurophysiology group, Álex Iranzo, has opted to replicate this study in other hospital and research centers as well as in other countries, although they have identified a “significant” difference compared to the control group.
“To achieve solidity, it is necessary to replicate it,” said Iranzo, who clarified that the findings of the work are correct and well studied.
Prevention
The sports medicine consultant doctor at the Clínic Gil Rodas explained that in recent years they have minimized the impact of a head injury and the institutions responsible for practicing sports have warned that this type of blow “may have significance”.
Thus, Rodas explained that a player who has suffered a concussion of these characteristics has to gradually return to professional sports practice and be alert that no clinical manifestations appear in the six days after the blow.