{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,30]],"date-time":"2026-01-30T21:19:32Z","timestamp":1769807972910,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"BMJ","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,30]],"date-time":"2026-01-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1769731200000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":29,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100014440","name":"Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovaci\u00f3n y Universidades","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["PID2023-148033OB-C21"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PID2023-148033OB-C21"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100014440","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003030","name":"Ag\u00e8ncia de Gesti\u00f3 d\u2019Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["2021 SGR 01421"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2021 SGR 01421"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003030","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["bmj.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med"],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,13]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>To analyse the causes of death and factors associated with mortality among NBA players using verifiable open-source data and a time-to-event approach accounting for competing risks.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This retrospective cohort study included all 4374 former and active NBA players from 1946 to July 2019. Players who exclusively played in the American Basketball Association were excluded. The main exposure was participation in the NBA. The primary outcome was cause-specific death, categorised into: neoplasms, cardiovascular diseases, external causes and idiopathic. Ethnicity and height were assessed as predictors using cause-specific adjusted Cox models.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>By July 2019, 864 players (19.8%) had died, 855 of them identified as African ancestry or European ancestry. Among these, 47.6% of deaths were idiopathic, 20.1% due to neoplasms, 17.6% due to cardiovascular diseases, 8.1% due to external causes and 6.5% due to other specified causes. From age 60 years onwards, neoplasms and cardiovascular diseases were the leading causes of death. At age 85 years, the estimated cardiovascular disease-related mortality was higher in African ancestry players (27%) than in European ancestry players (20%). African ancestry ethnicity was associated with increased risk of cardiovascular death (adjusted HR 1.32; 95%\u2009CI 1.06 to 1.65), and height was positively associated with mortality from both neoplasms and cardiovascular diseases.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>In this cohort of NBA players, neoplasms and cardiovascular diseases emerged as the primary causes of death, particularly among African ancestry athletes and taller individuals. These findings underscore the need to view the long-term health of elite athletes as a public health priority.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjsem-2025-002917","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,30]],"date-time":"2026-01-30T11:25:11Z","timestamp":1769772311000},"page":"e002917","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Causes of death in NBA players: a competing risks analysis"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Jos\u00e9 A","family":"Mart\u00ednez","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Business Economics, Universidad Polit\u00e9cnica de Cartagena member of European University of Technology EUT +, Cartagena, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Klaus","family":"Langohr","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Statistics and Operations Research and Institute for Research and Innovation in Health (IRIS), Universitat Polit\u00e8cnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech, Barcelona, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1367-4173","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Luciano","family":"Consuegra-S\u00e1nchez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Cardiology, Hospital Quironsalud Malaga y Marbella, M\u00e1laga, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Julian","family":"Felipo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Mundo Deportivo, Barcelona, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Luis","family":"Asensio-Pay\u00e1","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Hospital Clinica Benidorm, Benidorm, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mart\u00ed","family":"Casals","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Institute of Physical Education of Catalonia (INEFC), University of Barcelona and Sport and Physical Activity Studies Centre (CEEAF), University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia (UVic-UCC), Barcelona, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"2026013003250539000_12.1.e002917.1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1648","DOI":"10.1080\/02640414.2017.1409607","article-title":"Vital statistics and early death predictors of North American professional basketball players: A historical examination","volume":"36","author":"Lemez","year":"2018","journal-title":"J Sports Sci"},{"key":"2026013003250539000_12.1.e002917.2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1001\/jamanetworkopen.2019.4223","article-title":"Mortality Among Professional American-Style Football Players and Professional American Baseball Players","volume":"2","author":"Nguyen","year":"2019","journal-title":"JAMA Netw Open"},{"key":"2026013003250539000_12.1.e002917.3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"662","DOI":"10.1055\/a-1308-3116","article-title":"Mortality of Spanish Former Elite Soccer Players and Coaches","volume":"42","author":"Diz","year":"2021","journal-title":"Int J Sports Med"},{"key":"2026013003250539000_12.1.e002917.4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2241","DOI":"10.1111\/sms.14038","article-title":"Mortality from mental disorders and suicide in male professional American football and soccer players: A meta\u2010analysis","volume":"31","author":"Morales","year":"2021","journal-title":"Scandinavian Med Sci Sports"},{"key":"2026013003250539000_12.1.e002917.5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2022","DOI":"10.12688\/f1000research.21235.3","article-title":"Mortality risk factors among National Football League players: An analysis using player career data","volume":"8","author":"Ehrlich","year":"2020","journal-title":"F1000Res"},{"key":"2026013003250539000_12.1.e002917.6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1389","DOI":"10.1111\/sms.14195","article-title":"A retrospective analysis of all\u2010cause and cause\u2010specific mortality rates in French male professional footballers","volume":"32","author":"Orhant","year":"2022","journal-title":"Scandinavian Med Sci Sports"},{"key":"2026013003250539000_12.1.e002917.7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Vecchiato M , Da Col M , Berton G , et al . 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