Objective To investigate the associations among self-reported concussion history (SR-CHx), total years of playing contact football (TYP) and other demographic factors with odds of self-reporting a medical diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or depression in a group of former professional football players.

Design Cross-sectional.

Setting Paper/web-based survey.

Participants Former NFL players >50 years old (n=989; aged=65.0±9.0 years; BMI=30.5±4.4kg/m²; years since leaving the NFL=35.8±9.6; TYP=17.8±4.7; white/non-Hispanic n=681, non-white n=298).

Independent Variables SR-CHx was ordinally categorized as: 0 (n=120); 1–2 (n=157); 3–5 (n=243); 6–9 (n=201); and 10+ (n=268). Other independent variables included TYP, age, race/ethnicity (white/non-Hispanic [referent group] vs. non-white), and BMI.

Outcome Measures Participants self-reported lifetime physician diagnosed MCI and depression. Separate logistic regression models were used to identify predictors of the odds of each outcome. Odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) excluding 1.00 were considered significant.

Main Results Odds of self-reported diagnosis of MCI (n=221, 22.3%) were higher with greater SR-CHx (1-category increase OR=1.64; 95%CI=[1.43, 1.88]), among non-white (vs. white/non-Hispanic) respondents (OR=1.96; 95%CI=[1.38, 2.78]), and older age (1-year increase OR=1.05; 95%CI=[1.03, 1.07]). Odds of self-reported diagnosis of depression (n=185, 18.7%) were higher with higher SR-CHx (OR=1.62; 95%CI=[1.40, 1.88]) and among non-white respondents (OR=1.26; 95%CI=[1.13, 2.34]).

Conclusions Self-reported diagnoses of MCI and depression were associated with lifetime SR-CHx and race/ethnicity, but not years of football participation. As these data are based on self-reported diagnoses of MCI and depression, further research is required to understand the incidence of these conditions and factors associated with diagnosis in former athletes.