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Table 1 Descriptive characteristics of current and retired professional footballers

From: Knee osteoarthritis in professional football is related to severe knee injury and knee surgery

 

Current professional footballers (N = 964)

Retired professional footballers (N = 396)

Total

No knee OA

Knee OA

Total

No knee OA

Knee OA

Age (in years; mean ± SD)

26 ± 4

26 ± 5

28 ± 4

36 ± 6

36 ± 6

38 ± 5

Height (in cm; mean ± SD)

180 ± 8

180 ± 8

180 ± 9

181 ± 7

181 ± 7

181 ± 6

Weight (in kg; mean ± SD)

75 ± 9

75 ± 9

75 ± 10

82 ± 9

82 ± 9

83 ± 9

Career duration (in years; mean ± SD)

7 ± 4

7 ± 4

8 ± 5

11 ± 5

11 ± 5

11 ± 5

Level of play (top league; %)

67

65

73

81

78

84

Educational level (%)

 No schooling completed

2

2

5

1

0

2

 Nursery/Elementary school

3

4

2

2

3

1

 High school

45

45

40

28

30

28

 Vocational/technical school

16

15

19

8

7

7

 College, university or equivalent

34

34

34

61

60

62

 Retirement duration (in years; mean ± SD)

5 ± 4

5 ± 4

6 ± 4

 Forced retirement (%)

30

23

40

 Employed (%)

89

88

92

  1. N number of participants, No knee OA, group without knee osteoarthritis, Knee OA group with knee osteoarthritis, SD, standard deviation, cm, centimetres, kg kilograms, % percentage