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Occurrence of mental health symptoms and disorders in current and former elite athletes: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Open accessAbstract
Objectives: To present an overview of the existing epidemiological evidence regarding the occurrence of mental health symptoms and disorders among current and former elite athletes. Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Data sources: Five electronic databases were searched from inception to November 2018: PubMed (MEDLINE), SportDiscus via EBSCO, PSycINFO via ProQuest, Scopus and Cochrane. Eligibility criteria for selecting studies: We included original quantitative studies that were written in English, were conducted exclusively among current or former elite athletes, and presented incidence or prevalence rates of symptoms of mental disorders. Results: Twenty-two relevant original studies about mental health symptoms and disorders among current elite athletes were included: they presented data especially on symptoms of distress, sleep disturbance, anxiety/depression and alcohol misuse. Meta-analyses comprising 2895 to 5555 current elite athletes showed that the prevalence of mental health symptoms and disorders ranged from 19% for alcohol misuse to 34% for anxiety/depression. Fifteen relevant original studies about mental health symptoms and disorders among former elite athletes were included: they similarly presented data especially about symptoms of distress, sleep disturbance, anxiety/depression and alcohol misuse. Meta-analyses comprising 1579 to 1686 former elite athletes showed that the prevalence of mental health symptoms and disorders ranged from 16% for distress to 26% for anxiety/depression. Conclusions: Our meta-analyses showed that the prevalence of mental health symptoms and disorders ranged from 19% for alcohol misuse to 34% for anxiety/depression for current elite athletes, and from 16% for distress to 26% for anxiety/depression for former elite athletes.
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“To date, research has primarily examined the mental health outcomes of elite athletes [15–18], with comparatively less research focusing on understanding these psychological experiences among coaches [19].”
From The Mental Health of Elite-Level Coaches: A Systematic Scoping Review (2024) · cites this paper as [15]
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“A systematic review and meta-analysis noted that the prevalence of mental health symptoms ranges from 19% for alcohol misuse to 34% for anxiety/depression in active elite athletes [6].”
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Mental health and professional women footballers: a scoping review
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“Research has demonstrated that the prevalence of common mental health problems among athletes is comparable to or even higher than that observed in the general population (Gouttebarge et al., 2019).”
Sportpsychiatrie und Sportmedizin – interprofessionelle Zusammenarbeit im Leistungssport
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Understanding Mental Health and Wellbeing in Sport
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“Key stressors appear to include those linked to career transitions such as sport injury and retirement from sport (Gouttebarge et al., 2019).”
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The impact of home confinement by COVID-19 on mood state and adaptive behaviors in Spanish swimmers
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“…mental health, revealing symptoms of distress, sleep disturbance, anxiety, depression, and substance abuse as the most common problems (e.g., Gouttebarge et al., 2019) and compassion has demonstrated a protective role against these negative outcomes (Jansen, 2021; Jansen et al., 2021;…”
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“9 Loss of identity is thought to be a substantial contributor to this transition.”
BackgroundClimbing anxiety scale (CAS-20): Preliminary development and validation
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Inflexibility, Reactions to Retirement, and Mental Health in Elite Competitors: A Mediation Analysis
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Impacto das dietas restritas na saúde mental de atletas
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Exploring professional cricketers’ well-being: Insights and influences
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“For example, several consensus statements (e.g. Gorczynski et al., 2021; Reardon et al., 2019) and systematic reviews (Gouttebarge et al., 2019; Prior et al., 2024; Rice et al., 2016, 2019) have been published in the last decade.”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Gouttebarge, V., Castaldelli-Maia, J. M., Gorczynski, P., Hainline, B., Hitchcock, M. E., Kerkhoffs, G. M., Rice, S. M., & Reardon, C. L.
- Affiliations
- Amsterdam University Medical Centers (NL)
- University of Portsmouth (GB)
- National Collegiate Athletic Association (US)
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- Amsterdam UMC Location University of Amsterdam (NL)
- The University of Melbourne (AU)
- University of Wisconsin System (US)
- Corresponding author
- Gouttebarge, Vincent
- ORCID
- Venue
- British Journal of Sports Medicine
- Publisher
- BMJ
- Published
- 2019-05-16
- Volume
- 53
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 700-706
- ISSN
- 0306-3674 (ISSN-L)
- 1473-0480
- PMC
- PMC6579497
- OpenAlex
- W2944177380
- Cited by
- 604
- References
- 68
- Citations by year
- 2026: 119 · 2025: 107 · 2024: 111 · 2023: 77 · 2022: 80 · 2021: 58 · 2020: 44 · 2019: 7
- FWCI
- 10.09
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- British Journal of Sports Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Pure Amsterdam UMC (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Amsterdam UMC (VU Amsterdam) - Institutional Repository (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- Minerva Access (University of Melbourne) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- HighWire Press Open Archive (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Funders
- International Olympic Committee
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Sport Psychology and Performance
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychological Treatments and Assessments
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Keywords
- mental health, elite athletes, former athletes, anxiety, depression, alcohol abuse, sleep disorders, psychological distress, prevalence, mental illness
- MeSH terms
- Anxiety, Mental Disorders, Depression, Humans, Sleep Wake Disorders, Incidence, Prevalence, Alcohol-Related Disorders, Athletes
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