While empirical evidence suggests that elite athletes have superior lifespan outcomes relative to the general population, less is known regarding their causes of death. The purpose of this study was to critically examine the mortality outcomes of deceased National Basketball Association and American Basketball Association players. Death data were collected from publicly available sources until 11 December 2015, and causes of death were categorized using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD). Mortality was measured through: i) cause-specific crude death rates (CDR), ii) estimates of death rates per athlete-year (AY), and iii) binary and multinomial regression analyses. We identified 514 causes of death from 787 deceased players (M = 68.1 y ± 16.0) from 16 different ICD groups, 432 of which were from natural causes. Findings showed similar leading causes of death and CDRs to sex- and race-matched controls, higher death rate differences per AY within time-dependent variables (i.e., birth decade, race, and height), and a higher likelihood of dying below the median age of death for black and taller players, although this was highly confounded by birth decade. More complete knowledge of mortality outcomes would provide broad public health applications and disarm harmful stereotypes of elite athlete health.
Keywords: Basketball; death; health; longevity; mortality.