Esports Preparticipation Screening Tool: An Investigation of the Health of Esports Players

With the exponential growth of esports, increasing attention is being directed toward identifying and preventing health risks among esports athletes. This exploratory study examined the feasibility of using a simple tool to identify potential health risks in this population and to provide an overview of current health status. Two hundred ten esports players (142 men, 57 women, five gender nonconforming, six unspecified; 25.0 ± 7.9 years) completed a questionnaire that gathered information on demographics, gaming habits, general and physical health, gaming-related physical health, physical activity, well-being, sleep, and nutrition. The results showed that 97.9% of participants presented at least one potential health risk: 0 risks (2.1%), 1 risk (5.2%), 2 risks (15.6%), 3 risks (16.7%), 4 risks (21.4%), 5 risks (21.4%), 6 risks (13%), 7 risks (4.7%), and 8 risks (0%). Reported issues included gaming-related health (81.9%), general and physical health (69.5%), nutrition (62.9%), sleep (53.8%), beverage intake (50.0%), well-being (47.6%), physical activity (14.3%), and lack of breaks (7.6%). However, only 5.7% of the participants rated their current health condition as poor. Overall, while most esports athletes perceived themselves as healthy, scores for physical health, well-being, and sleep were low. This discrepancy suggests players may overestimate their health status and underscores the need for a brief screening tool to identify key health risks.