Sleepless in the NFL

Football stars who have retired their numbers are finding there’s more to a post-game career than product endorsements and autograph signings. According to one study, many former footballers suffer from sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) in higher numbers than the rest of the population.

Football players are growing larger, and their chances of developing SDB are increasing along with their neck sizes. But Kinnelon, N.J.-based SleepTech, a unit of Medcare, is out to make sure there is a lot of life left after the NFL.

Providing sleep disorders diagnostics and treatment services in the New York Tri-State region, the company’s new sleep program is drafting NFL players to participate in a study that explores possible links between SDB and cardiovascular disease. Since most footballers stay in shape after their years on the field, the researchers hope to identify the health risk factors that also may affect non-football players with large body masses — and show that SDB is not limited to the overweight or middle-aged. Elite athletes, even in their prime, can suffer from the disorder and the chronic conditions it can cause.

The program builds on the results of a previous SleepTech/ResMed study that focused on active NFL players, revealing that SDB was likely to be prevalent but undiagnosed among pro ball players. Published in the New England Journal of Medicine last year, the study of 300 pro players found the presence of sleep apnea was 14 percent overall, or nearly five times more likely among pro football players than in other people of similar ages.

“That study revealed that more than 30 percent of active NFL players had sleep-disordered breathing,” says Vyto Kab, SleepTech co-managing director and former tight end for the Philadelphia Eagles, New York Giants and Detroit Lions. “It was important to show the average age of players was 24. These were professional athletes, at the top of their game. Sleep-disordered breathing is mostly seen as an older person’s disease.” Kab adds that only 3 percent of men in the same age group tested positive for SDB.

With increasing data that suggests correlation between sleep disorders and hypertension, stroke, obesity and other diseases, the current program will continue SleepTech’s previous study with the aim of creating a health-education and risk-reduction program related to SDB. The company is currently working with former players through 31 accredited sleep centers in 14 NFL cities.

The study was in part developed by Living Heart Foundation founder Arthur J. Roberts, a heart surgeon who also played for the Cleveland Browns and Miami Dolphins in the 1960s. The players participate by receiving a cardiovascular test, and then are sent home with a sleep screener.

If any apneic episodes are detected, players will then have a full polysomnography, and their SDB will be treated. The foundation, a nonprofit that promotes cardiovascular health, will work with them to alter diet and fitness if any cardiovascular conditions, such as hypertension, are detected.

Kab says part of the reason pro football players are susceptible to SDB is that players are getting bigger all around: bigger chest size, neck size and body mass index. “When I played in the NFL, there were only 10 players that weighed more than 300 pounds.” Now there are more than 300 players at that weight.

The research team is traveling the NFL circuit city-by-city to assess participating players’ health. Among players who are diagnosed with SDB, the program requires the participating sleep centers in each location — and the HME providers they work with — to report back on therapy compliance.

SleepTech is looking for ASM-accredited sleep centers with board-certified sleep physicians in NFL cities to participate in the study. For more information, visit www.sleeptech.com. For more information on the Living Heart Foundation, visit www.livingheartfoundation.org.