Abstract
To examine the prevalence of chronic disease and mental health problems in retired professional, male jockeys compared to an age-matched reference population. A cross-sectional study comparing data from a cohort of retired professional jockeys with an age-matched general population sample. Male participants (age range: 50-89 years old) were used to compare health outcomes of self-reported physician-diagnosed conditions: heart disease, stroke, diabetes, hypertension, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, depression and anxiety between study populations. Conditional logistic regression models were used to estimate associations between study groups and health outcome. In total, 810 participants (135 retired professional male jockeys and 675 participants from the reference population) were included, with an average age of 64.7±9.9 years old. Increased odds of having osteoporosis (OR=6.5, 95%CI 2.1-20.5), osteoarthritis (OR=7.5, 95%CI 4.6-12.2), anxiety (OR=2.8, 95%CI 1.3-5.9) and depression (OR=2.6, 95%CI 1.3-5.7) were seen in the retired professional jockeys. No differences were found for the remaining health outcomes. Retired professional jockeys had increased odds of musculoskeletal disease and mental health problems compared to the general population. Understanding the prevalence of chronic disease and mental health problems in retired professional jockeys will help inform screening and intervention strategies for jockeys.
Highlights
The beneficial effects of exercise on chronic disease have been well documented, with significantly reduced mortality due to cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes and cancer [1, 2]
Regular exercise has been shown to have positive effects on mental health in the general population [3, 4]; it is known that professional athletes may be subject to unique stresses, such as when injured or underperforming, which may increase their predisposition to mental health problems [5]
This questionnaire was further adapted for horseracing with the involvement of current and retired jockeys and stakeholder organisations from racing including the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), The Racing Foundation, British Racing School (BRS), Professional Jockeys Association (PJA), National Association of Racing Staff (NARS), Racehorse Owners Association (ROA), Racing Welfare (RW) Injured Jockeys Fund (IJF), Jockeys Education and Training Scheme (JETS), Northern Racing College (NRC) and National Trainers Federation (NTF)
Summary
The beneficial effects of exercise on chronic disease have been well documented, with significantly reduced mortality due to cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes and cancer [1, 2]. Regular exercise has been shown to have positive effects on mental health in the general population [3, 4]; it is known that professional athletes may be subject to unique stresses, such as when injured or underperforming, which may increase their predisposition to mental health problems [5]. In some former professional sports participants, the prevalence of musculoskeletal problems is higher compared to the general population, OA of the lower limb [8,9,10]. A more recent Irish paper reported falls and injuries rates in Irish jump and flat racing between 2011 and 2015 [13]. Fall rates were of 3.8 and 49.5 falls per 1 000 rides, and 352.8 and 203.8 injuries per 1 000 falls for flat and jump jockeys, respectively
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