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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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Additional file 2 of The Mental Health of Elite-Level Coaches: A Systematic Scoping Review
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Self-citationAdditional file 4 of The Mental Health of Elite-Level Coaches: A Systematic Scoping Review
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Additional file 6 of The Mental Health of Elite-Level Coaches: A Systematic Scoping Review
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Self-citationAdditional file 3 of The Mental Health of Elite-Level Coaches: A Systematic Scoping Review
Frost, J., Walton, C. C., Purcell, R., Fisher, K., Gwyther, K., Kocherginsky, M., & Rice, S. M. (2024) · Figshare · doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.26679629
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Additional file 5 of The Mental Health of Elite-Level Coaches: A Systematic Scoping Review
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“Epidemiological studies indicate that a substantial proportion of elite athletes experience depressive symptoms (Gouttebarge et al., 2019; Rice et al., 2019; Runacres and Marshall, 2024), with recent meta-analytic evidence reporting a pooled prevalence of 30.7% among female athletes (Beisecker et…”
InfluentialTRANSTORNO DE ANSIEDADE GENERALIZADA EM CORREDORES DE RUA DO MUNICÍPIO DE TUCURUÍ-PA
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“Consensus and meta-analytic evidence therefore show that athlete mental health requires direct assessment rather than optimistic assumptions about sport as protection (Gouttebarge et al., 2019; Reardon et al., 2019).”
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Kater, M., Erlacher, D., Schmid, M. J., & Vorster, A. (2026) · Sleep Epidemiology · doi:10.1016/j.sleepe.2026.100180
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MATSUBARA, A., & Takai, H. (2026) · International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology · doi:10.1080/1612197x.2026.2740795
Physical Activity and Associated Factors among Elderly People
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Mapping mental health complexity in esports: an exploratory psychosocial network approach
Ruysevelt, L. V., Heel, M. V., Trotter, M. G., Watson, M., Pedraza-Ramirez, I., Bonilla, I., Davis, P., Ragnarsson, J., Maîresse, O., & Kegelaers, J. J. (2026) · BMC Psychology · doi:10.1186/s40359-026-05800-y
“Its strongest model-fit connections were to anxiety and anhedonia, consistent with the well-known co-occurrence of these mental ill-health symptoms in general, traditional sports, and esports populations [8, 62, 63].”
Chu, T. L., DeMan, S., & Cheng, B. C.-Y. (2026) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-11087671/v1
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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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