La Jornada: Study discovers brain changes in soccer players, but not cognitive deterioration

London. Former British professional footballers showed structural differences in the brain and high rates of anxiety and depression, but no signs of cognitive decline, in a study seeking to determine whether repetitive impacts such as heading the ball affect the risk of developing dementia.

The study, conducted by researchers at Imperial College London, included 142 former players aged between 30 and 60 and compared them to 56 healthy people of a similar age with no history of contact sports, military service or previous concussions.

In addition to using questionnaires and tests to measure cognition, the researchers analyzed structural MRIs of the brains of an eligible subgroup of 124 gamers and 40 control people to detect regional differences in gray matter volume.

The authors, who presented the study Sunday at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, said their research is part of a larger effort by scientists to address repetitive head impacts as a possible modifiable risk factor for dementia later in life, similar to how doctors address high blood pressure or cholesterol.

The work lays the foundation for what is intended to be a long-term study of these players, whom the researchers plan to monitor every two years.

“The field is taking a more comprehensive view of brain health and dementia risk,” said Thomas Parker, lead author and consultant neurologist at Imperial College London.

After adjusting the data for factors such as age and education, the former players obtained results in line with expectations in memory and thinking tests, with no significant differences compared to the healthy control group.

The athletes reported much higher rates of mental health problems: 31 percent met the threshold for clinical depression, compared to 9 percent of the control group, while 42 percent reported clinical anxiety, compared to 25 percent of the other group.

The researchers found that brain scans of the former players showed that, as a group, they had less brain tissue in areas that control memory and emotions than people in the control group.

But only 2 percent of the former athletes showed individual signs of a severe reduction in brain volume that would point to active and progressive neurodegeneration.

The study has not been peer reviewed. The researchers hope to present a paper later this year with a larger sample and additional analysis of the study.

No link to Alzheimer’s

The study did not show a direct link to Alzheimer’s disease, a progressive brain disorder that gradually destroys memory and is the most common cause of dementia.

Most of the research on sports-related brain damage has been based on reports post mortem and retrospective medical records to study chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative disease associated with repeated head trauma, such as soccer headbutts or concussions, which currently can only be diagnosed after death.

The Imperial College research follows middle-aged athletes, helping researchers track neurological changes years before dementia would normally be expected to develop.

The results mirror the team’s previous peer-reviewed findings, published in 2025 on 200 former rugby players, which showed similar gray matter reductions and elevated anxiety levels, but normal cognitive performance.

The researchers cautioned that their findings cannot predict individual risk of dementia.

“We are at a very early stage of translating these findings into individual risk prediction,” Parker said.