Meehan WP, et al. - In a cohort of former National Football League (NFL) players (N=3,506) who played since 1960, researchers evaluated potential long-term health consequences related to playing professional football. They focused on the possible association of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears with later life comorbidities, such as cardiovascular effects. They used Cox proportional hazards to estimate hazard ratios for joint replacement surgeries, myocardial infarction, sleep apnea, arthritis, dementia, and stroke by history of ACL tear during their professional career and asked each participant to complete a self-administered questionnaire, including physician-diagnosed health conditions. After adjusting for covariates, they observed approximately 2-fold increase in muscular skeletal co-morbidities, including knee joint replacement and arthritis, among former NFL players who tore their ACL vs those without ACL tears. An over 50% increased risk of myocardial infarction and a slight increase in sleep apnea was seen among those with a history of ACL tears. Based on these data, they concluded that the detection of those who could most benefit from prevention strategies could be possible via enhanced screening for other risk factors for these conditions among individuals who have torn their ACL.