Families of former footballers with dementia have faced ‘unconscionable’ delays in deciding their occupational disease claim, amid concerns over potential conflicts of interest.
It comes as the funder of a £500,000 Football Association-backed study into cognitive function and brain function was left disappointed to discover that three of the co-authors were members of the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council during the conduct of the research.
The philanthropist James Drake was unaware until recently that professors Neil Pearce, Damien McElvenny and John Cherrie, who were among the researchers for the ‘Heading Study’ he funded, were also part of the IIAC group that decided whether footballers who suffered neurodegenerative diseases should be entitled to additional financial support.
Another co-author of the Heading Study, which was expected to deliver its findings in 2021, is Rugby Football Union medical director Simon Kemp. The RFU and the FA are both currently the subject of legal action regarding their treatment of brain injuries.
“I am disillusioned that three co-authors of the much-delayed Football Heading Study, funded by The Drake Foundation, are or have been recent members of the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council and have not mentioned this in the paper awaiting peer review,” said Drake.
“Since 2020, a crucial application has been made to the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council to have dementia in football recognized as an industrial disease. Impartiality among those overseeing the Heading Study is therefore essential.”
There is also concern that a group of neuroscientists who were previously among the study’s co-investigators are now not among the draft paper’s co-authors.
The IIAC emphasized that the three co-authors, whose names appeared in the published IIAC minutes, disclosed their potential conflicts of interest during meetings, as required, and this was not considered a cause for concern.
Although not directly involved in the Heading Study, the FA had actively encouraged former players to take part. Current England manager Gareth Southgate was among the 199 participants.
This research was specifically cited by the IIAC in The Telegraph in January 2020 as families prepared to submit their applications for neurodegenerative diseases in football.
To become a prescribed occupational disease, and thus entitle you to statutory benefits, people who work in a given job must be more than twice as likely to develop a given disease. A landmark 2019 study from the University of Glasgow of almost 8,000 players found that former professionals were 3.5 times more likely to die from a brain disease than the wider population, including a fivefold increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease and a fourfold motor neuron risk. disease.
It was also previously found that Italian professional footballers are seven times more likely to develop motor neuron disease, while scientists from Stirling University found a direct link between exercise and reduced brain function.
Neuropathologists, including Prof Willie Stewart who oversaw the study in Glasgow, have also started identifying chronic traumatic encephalopathy – a form of dementia associated with head impacts – in the donated brains of an increasing number of former professional players.
Dr. Judith Gates, with the support of Dawn Astle, whose respective husband and father died of dementia after a long football career, first wrote to the IIAC in February 2020.
The IIAC said the issue was on the agenda of the Research Working Group, then chaired by Prof Pearce, in March 2020, but an investigation could typically take up to two years.
Prof Pearce is said to have left the IIAC in 2021. Prof McElvenny is first mentioned among the IIAC members in the January 2022 minutes, while Prof Cherrie was already one of the members before the 2020 football application was submitted.
Dr. Gates said she provided supporting evidence for the request and exchanges subsequently took place, asking for more information or indicating that the IIAC would also focus on other contact sports or consider specific neurodegenerative diseases.
“The goalposts changed repeatedly,” said Dr. Gates, the founder of Head Safe Football, told The Telegraph. “For the four long years since my initial request, I assumed that the IIAC made impartial decisions, free from potential personal conflicts of interest.
“It is disturbing to discover that at the time of my request, the chair of the IIAC Commission of Inquiry was himself involved in ongoing investigations on this subject.
“I sincerely hope that the desire to complete this investigation before my request has been processed has not led to the unconscionable delay in the procedure. In the meantime, many ex-footballers have died without the much-needed financial support from the IIAC that they may have been entitled to.”
A draft version of the Heading Study found “no overall association… between heading and/or other consequences for the head and cognitive function” and is now being shared with other experts ahead of peer review.
Although this version, which is on the MedRxiv server (and referenced by Drake), does not mention the IIAC link of the three co-authors in its ‘conflict of interest statement’, Prof. pointed out. Pearce that the article was also submitted to an academic journal.
“I have made a competing interest statement on the matter you are raising … to the magazine that will review the paper, and all such statements will be published together with the paper,” he told the Telegraph, adding that these “statements are made by everyone.” author” separate from the main manuscript “that seems to be what you are looking at.”
The IIAC, which is funded by the Department for Work and Pensions, insisted its work was “completely independent” and “very different” from the research programs of its individual members.
“I do not believe that involvement in the Header Study would introduce bias into IIAC’s evaluation of evidence on neurodegenerative diseases in sports people,” said IIAC President Dr. Lesley Rushton.
“We have also been approached by other sports organizations and decided at an early stage to include a wider range of sports. After an initial literature exploration, IIAC decided to focus on several individual neurodegenerative diseases. One study is generally insufficient for IIAC to draw conclusions.”