Man playing baseball
19 May 2023

Peak performance predicts death in baseball and basketball players

An innovative study published today in Science Advances finds that baseball and basketball players whose athletic skills peaked earlier or declined faster had significantly shorter lifespans. Those who peaked earlier had a 1.2 year shorter adult life expectancy whilst those who maintained athletic performance for longer had an 0.8 year higher life expectancy, according to the study by Dr Saul Newman from Oxford’s Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science.