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Sudden cardiac death athletes: a systematic review

Marcelo Ferreira1, Paulo R Santos-Silva1, Luiz C de Abreu1,2, Vitor E Valenti3,1,2, Vanessa Crispim1, Caio Imaizumi1, Celso F Filho1, Neif Murad1, Adriano Meneghini1, Andrés RP Riera1, Tatiana D de Carvalho3, Luiz CM Vanderlei4, Erica E Valenti5, José R Cisternas2, Oseas F Moura Filho1 and Celso Ferreira3,1*

Author Affiliations

1 Departamento de Clínica Médica, Disciplina de Cardiologia, Núcleo de Saúde no Esporte, Faculdade de Medicina do ABC, Santo André, SP, Brasil

2 Departamento de Morfologia e Fisiologia, Faculdade de Medicina do ABC, Santo André, SP, Brasil

3 Departamento de Medicina, Disciplina de Cardiologia, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), São Paulo, SP, Brasil

4 Departamento de Fisioterapia, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Campus de Presidente Prudente, Presidente Prudente, SP, Brasil

5 Departamento de Educação Física e Motricidade Humana, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, São Carlos, SP, Brasil

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Sports Medicine, Arthroscopy, Rehabilitation, Therapy & Technology 2010, 2:19 doi:10.1186/1758-2555-2-19

Published: 3 August 2010

Abstract

Previous events evidence that sudden cardiac death (SCD) in athletes is still a reality and it keeps challenging cardiologists. Considering the importance of SCD in athletes and the requisite for an update of this matter, we endeavored to describe SCD in athletes. The Medline (via PubMed) and SciELO databases were searched using the subject keywords "sudden death, athletes and mortality". The incidence of SCD is expected at one case for each 200,000 young athletes per year. Overall it is resulted of complex dealings of factors such as arrhythmogenic substrate, regulator and triggers factors. In great part of deaths caused by heart disease in athletes younger than 35 years old investigations evidence cardiac congenital abnormalities. Athletes above 35 years old possibly die due to impairments of coronary heart disease, frequently caused by atherosclerosis. Myocardial ischemia and myocardial infarction are responsible for the most cases of SCD above this age (80%). Pre-participatory athletes' evaluation helps to recognize situations that may put the athlete's life in risk including cardiovascular diseases. In summary, cardiologic examinations of athletes' pre-competition routine is an important way to minimize the risk of SCD.