1030 - Inflammation Associates with Depression among Former National Football League Players

Objectives: Depression is a multifaceted and globally prevalent mental health condition. Recent research suggests that sustained systemic inflammation significantly increases the risk of depression, particularly in the elderly. However, our understanding of this association remains limited within the unique context of former professional athletes—a population notable for its heightened prevalence of both moderate-to-high inflammation and depression. We aimed to investigate this relationship among community-dwelling former National Football League (NFL) players.

Design: We examined 425 retired NFL players (aged 54.4 ± 12.1 years, 79.3 % African American) as part of a comprehensive health assessment conducted during the 2020-2023 NFL Player Care Foundation nationwide health screenings. High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) was assayed following an immunochemiluminometric method. Depression was assessed via the patient health questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and defined as PHQ-9 >9. A multivariable-adjusted binary logistic regression model was employed to evaluate the independent association between hs-CRP and depression, controlling for traditional cardiometabolic risk factors, depression treatment, professional career length, and playing position.

Results: The observed depression prevalence was 15.3%. The median and interquartile range for hsCRP stood at 1.05 (1.89) mg/L. Each one-unit increase in hsCRP was found to correlate with a 3.7% elevation in the odds of developing depression (OR = 1.037; 95% CI = 1.00 – 1.08; p = 0.03).

Conclusions: Our study identified a significant correlation between elevated hsCRP levels and depression among former NFL players. These findings highlight the central role of inflammation as a contributing factor to depression within this distinct population. Further research is needed to identify the mechanisms by which inflammation contributes to depression and to develop effective therapeutic interventions.