Death Rates of Elite and Professional American Athletes During Early Adulthood are Lower than the General Population

This study aimed to assess rates of death of elite and professional young adult athletes in different US sports, comparing to the general population. Male and female athletes' birth and death dates were analyzed to compare rates of death from ages 21-40 years inclusive between the athlete groups and the general population. Data were downloaded from Wikidata for notable US athletes, and Standardized Mortality Ratios (SMRs) were calculated against mortality rates by year (1950-2022 inclusive) for the USA general population by age and sex. Sports were included based on sufficient cohort size for analysis. Results were obtained for 54 648 male and 6280 female notable athletes from 17 sports. Overall SMRs (95% confidence intervals) for athletes were 0.49 (0.46-0.53) for males and 0.38 (0.26-0.55) for females. The majority of sports, including football, baseball, basketball, hockey, tennis, and golf in males, and track and field, soccer, and rowing in both males and females, had significantly lower mortality rates in athletes than the general population. The only sports with significantly higher mortality rates in male athletes were auto racing, mountaineering, and professional wrestling. For the majority of major sports, professional and elite athletes have lower death rates than the general population in early adulthood.