Age of First Exposure to Football is not Associated with Midlife Brain Health Problems.

The purpose of this study was to determine if earlier age of first exposure to football is associated with worse brain health in middle-aged men who played high school football. We assessed 123 men ages 35-55, who played high school football, using (i) a survey of demographic information as well as medical, sport participation, and concussion history; (ii) the Patient Health Questionnaire-8 (PHQ-8); and (iii) the British Columbia Post-Concussion Symptom Inventory (BC-PSI). Sixty-two (50.4%) men reported football participation starting before the age of 12 [i.e., age of first exposure (AFE) 12 years). Compared to AFE>12 years, former high school football players that began playing tackle football before age 12 did not differ in the rates at which they had been prescribed medications for mental health problems or in the rates at which they had recently experienced symptoms of anxiety, depression, memory loss, chronic pain, or headaches. Moreover, there was no difference in their lifetime history of treatment by a mental health professional. The groups did not differ significantly on PHQ-8 (U=1,839.0, p=.791) or BC-PSI total scores (U=1828.5, p=.751). These findings suggest that earlier age of first exposure to football is not associated with worse brain health in middle-aged men in this sample who played high school football.