A total of 2218 former elite athletes were contacted to participate in this study (1230 in rugby, 307 in football, 420 in ice hockey, 180 in cricket, 81 in Gaelic sports), from which 624 gave their written informed consent and completed the online questionnaire: 295 former rugby players (47 %), 220 former football players (35 %), 61 former ice hockey players (10 %), 27 former cricket players (4 %) and 21 former Gaelic sport athletes (3 %). From those, 22 participants did not answer the question about OA, and their data were consequently discarded. The mean age of the respondents was 36.7 (SD 6.3) years. Participants had an elite sports career with a mean duration of 10 years (SD 5) and were retired for 6 (SD 5). Approximately 42 % did not end their careers as elite athletes voluntarily. About 60 % of the participants were working in a paid position for about 37 h a week. All characteristics of the participants are presented in Table 1.Table 1Characteristics of the participantsVariablesOverallWith OA (n = 200)Without OA (n = 402)Age (in years; mean ± SD)37 ± 638 ± 536 ± 6Height (in cm; mean ± SD)183 ± 8184 ± 7183 ± 8Weight (in kg; mean ± SD)93 ± 1794 ± 1693 ± 17Duration of sports career (in years; mean ± SD)10 ± 511 ± 410 ± 5Duration of retirement (in years; mean ± SD)6 ± 57 ± 556 ± 5Involuntary retired from sports (%)424442Currently (self-) employed (%)605264Working hours per week (mean ± SD)37 ± 1442 ± 1242 ± 14Prevalence of osteoarthritis (%)33.2 %–– Prevalence of symptoms of CMD (%)Distress22.128.618.8Anxiety/depression27.130.825.3Sleep disturbance26.933.223.9Adverse alcohol use26.233.822.5Comorbidity (≥2)27.233.525.6 SD standard deviation, CMD symptoms, symptoms of common mental disorders, OA osteoarthritis; comorbidity, having two or more than two symptoms of common mental disorders