What is the aetiology of sudden cardiac death in athletes in the UK?
Sudden cardiac death in athletes is predominantly caused by clinically silent cardiomyopathies or primary electrical disorders, highlighting the limitations of symptom-based screening.
OBJECTIVE: To characterise the demographics and aetiology of sudden cardiac death (SCD) in athletes referred to a tertiary cardiac pathology centre in the UK. DESIGN: Retrospective non-case controlled analysis. SETTING: Cardiac pathology centre at the National Heart and Lung Institute and Royal Brompton Hospital. SUBJECTS: Between 1996 and 2008, the hearts of 118 athletes were referred for pathological assessment to ascertain the precise aetiology of SCD. RESULTS: The majority of athletes (n = 113; 96%) were male and most (107; 91%) were amateurs participating predominantly in football, rugby and running. The mean (SD) age of death was 28 (12) years (range 7-59); 75% athletes were aged 35 years. CONCLUSIONS: SCD in sport is largely due to clinically silent cardiomyopathies or primary electrical disorders (morphologically normal heart). Antecedent symptoms and family history are absent in over 80% of cases, and therefore clinical screening with health questionnaires will fail to identify most athletes with potentially sinister cardiac disorders.
Noronha et al. (Wed,) studied this question.
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