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College athletics, body size, and cancer mortality
Author(s) -
Polednak Anthony P.
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0142(197607)38:1<382::aid-cncr2820380155>3.0.co;2-v
Subject(s) - medicine , athletes , cohort , demography , cause of death , cancer , physical therapy , disease , sociology
Data are presented on mortality from neoplasms as determined from death certificates in a cohort of 8393 college men, according to athletic status in college. Major athletes (lettermen) died significantly more often from neoplasms than nonathletes. Mean age at death from neoplasms (underlying cause) was significantly lower in major athletes than in both minor athletes and nonathletes. After matching major athletes with nonathletes of comparable body size (height and weight), differences in proportional mortality and mean age at death from neoplasms persisted, although not statistically significant for the smaller samples. Correlation coefficients (Pearson r ) and partial r 's between weight in college and age at death from neoplasms were negative but of low magnitude. Some possible explanations for the differences between major athletes and nonathletes are discussed.