close
Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Nov 5;9(11):e109945.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0109945. eCollection 2014.

The very high premature mortality rate among active professional wrestlers is primarily due to cardiovascular disease

Christopher W Herman  1 , Anna S C Conlon  2 , Melvyn Rubenfire  2 , Andrew R Burghardt  1 , Stephen J McGregor  1
Affiliations

The very high premature mortality rate among active professional wrestlers is primarily due to cardiovascular disease

Christopher W Herman et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Purpose: Recently, much media attention has been given to the premature deaths in professional wrestlers. Since no formal studies exist that have statistically examined the probability of premature mortality in professional wrestlers, we determined survival estimates for active wresters over the past quarter century to establish the factors contributing to the premature mortality of these individuals.

Methods: Data including cause of death was obtained from public records and wrestling publications in wrestlers who were active between January 1, 1985 and December 31, 2011. 557 males were considered consistently active wrestlers during this time period. 2007 published mortality rates from the Center for Disease Control were used to compare the general population to the wrestlers by age, BMI, time period, and cause of death. Survival estimates and Cox hazard regression models were fit to determine incident premature deaths and factors associated with lower survival. Cumulative incidence function (CIF) estimates given years wrestled was obtained using a competing risks model for cause of death.

Results: The mortality for all wrestlers over the 26-year study period was.007 deaths/total person-years or 708 per 100,000 per year, and 16% of deaths occurred below age 50 years. Among wrestlers, the leading cause of deaths based on CIF was cardiovascular-related (38%). For cardiovascular-related deaths, drug overdose-related deaths and cancer deaths, wrestler mortality rates were respectively 15.1, 122.7 and 6.4 times greater than those of males in the general population. Survival estimates from hazard models indicated that BMI is significantly associated with the hazard of death from total time wrestling (p<0.0001).

Conclusion: Professional wrestlers are more likely to die prematurely from cardiovascular disease compared to the general population and morbidly obese wrestlers are especially at risk. Results from this study may be useful for professional wrestlers, as well as wellness policy and medical care implementation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Survival probability by age.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Survival probability for BMI by age for wrestlers.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Wrestler survival probability for BMI by years from start of career.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Cumulative incidence function estimates given years wrestled for cause of death.
Figure 4 Note: 1 =  Cardiovascular-Related Death; 2 =  Drug-Related Death; 3 =  Non-Drug Suicide and Homicide; 4 =  Cancer Death; 5 =  Other Cause of Death.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. (30 Sept 2011) WWE Income Statement. Available: Rehttp://ir.corporate.wwe.com/asreported.aspx?keyreport = 592&keytable = 1&iid = 4121687. Accessed 2011 December 15.
    1. (13 April 2009) WWE and Steroids: Still A Tough Target. Available: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/e60/columns/story?columnist=assael_shaun&.... Accessed 2011 December 15.
    1. Nascimento JH, Medei E (2011) Cardiac Effects of Anabolic Steroids: Hypertrophy, Ischemia, and Electrical Remodeling as Potential Triggers of Sudden Mortality. Mini Review of Medicinal Chemistry 11: 425–429. - PubMed
    1. Carman WJ, Su S, Cook SF, Wurzelmann JI, McAffe A (2011) Coronary Heart Disease Outcomes among Chronic Opioid and Cyclooxygenase-2 Users Compared With A General Population. Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety 20: 754–762. - PubMed
    1. Park YW, Zhu S, Palaniappan L, Heshka S, Carnethon MR, et al. (2003) The metabolic syndrome: Prevalence and associated risk factor findings in the US population from the third national health and nutrition examination survey, 1988–1994. Archives of Internal Medicine 163: 427–436. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources