Osteoarthritis Risk in Professional Footballers
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An investigation of the prevalence of knee osteoarthritis and pain in retired professional male footballers in the UK.
IRAS ID
142161
Contact name
Michael Doherty
Contact email
Research summary
Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a leading cause of pain and impaired mobility. Professional footballers are thought to be at increased risk of KOA because of both the physically demanding training they have to undertake and the knee injuries they often sustain during matches. The current study will determine whether footballers are at increased risk of KOA compared to the general population, after adjustment for other known causes of KOA. First we will survey, via a postal or on-line questionnaire, a large number of footballers registered with the UK Professional Footballers Association (PFA) and other football organisations such as XPro to determine the frequency of knee symptoms, knee injuries and need for knee surgery and to enquire concerning other known risk factors for KOA (Phase I). A sample of the responders will be invited to a private hospital setting (SPIRE healthcare) for knee x-rays to confirm whether they have OA (Phase II). The prevalence of knee pain and OA in the footballers will then be compared to that in age-matched male controls derived from the Nottinghamshire community. Controls will then be identified from a questionnaire survey on knee pain that is being undertaken for a separate study by Academic Rheumatology (University of Nottingham). From this study, a sample of responders will be invited to undergo x-rays of their knees at the City Hospital Nottingham as part of the age-matched control group (Phase III).
REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/EM/0045
Date of REC Opinion
21 Feb 2014
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion