PositiveSports.net

Study Finds Heart Abnormalities More Common in Athletes

A heart characteristic linked to sudden cardiac death is more common in athletes than non-athletes, and black male athletes are much more likely to have this characteristic than other athletes, a new study finds.

The characteristic -- left-ventricular hyper-trabeculation (LVHT) -- is a feature of certain types of cardiomyopathy (chronic disease of the heart muscle). The abnormality is the leading cause of exercise-related sudden cardiac death in athletes.

Read the full U.S. News Health article here.

 

Can EKG Screenings Prevent Sudden Death In Young Athletes?

 Fewer than 100 young athletes die every year from a hidden cardiovascular problem, P.J. Skerrett, editor of the Harvard Heart Letter, a monthly healthcare newsletter, wrote in a blog post.

The most common cause of sudden death in athletes is hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, according to the Mayo Clinic. The diseased heart muscle becomes abnormally thick, which decreases blood pumping. The disease is often symptom-less and usually goes undetected.

American athletes undergo physical examinations but no electrocardiograms. The American Heart Association has routinely rejected proposals for mandatory electrocardiogram, citing cost and false-positive results. Electrocardiogram advocates say that mandatory tests allow young athletes to be screened to the best of a doctor's ability.

Read the full International Business Times article here.

 

Study Concludes Early Team Sports Participation Keep Girls Physically Active Later On

With the escalating number of obese children in the U.S., efforts to increase the level of exercise among youth have garnered much attention. Only about 8 percent of 12- to 15-year-olds meet Federal guidelines of at least 60 minutes of moderate to virgorous physical activity each day, according to past research. What’s more, girls decrease time spent being physically activeby about half between the ages of 9 and 15.

Jennifer Trilk, Ph.D., lead author of the study, said encouraging young girls to play organized sports is key to getting and keeping them physically active.

The researchers analyzed data from 957 girls who participated in the Trial of Activity for Adolescent Girls conducted in six states across the U.S. The girls were measured as 6th graders and again as 8th graders to identify patterns of physical activity and sedentary behavior to see which girls had the most minutes of physical activity and which showed a change from 6th to 8th grade.

Sixth grade girls who did either “sports and play” or “organized team sports/lessons” had more daily minutes of physical activity (27 minutes and 25 minutes, respectively) than girls who participated more frequently in other behaviors, such as playing video games (22 minutes). And although by 8th grade, physical activity had declined among all clusters, girls in “organized team sports/lessons” had the smallest decline.

Read the full Medical Express article here.

Heart Research with Young Athletes Could Save Lives

The Center for Coronary Artery Anomalies at the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital is conducting research which includes the screening of 10,000 middle school students in the Houston Independent School District and other area schools to detect abnormalities in the heart prior to their leading to sudden death in children.  This research could lead to important findings about the causes of heart-related deaths among athletes - while also detecting problems in athletes screened as part of the research protocol. 

Learn more at the Texas Heart Institute website...

 

Risks: Focus on Heart Deaths in Student-Athletes

By RONI CARYN RABIN Published: April 6, 2011

Recent sudden cardiac deaths among high school athletes — including the death in March of a 16-year-old Michigan basketball player who had just scored a game-winning shot — have renewed questions about how common the risk is and whether athletes should be screened more carefully.

Read the full article in the New York Times...

ECG testing of young athletes cost-effective in preventing deaths, study shows

Deaths due to cardiovascular problems are thankfully rare but we still hear about them all too often.  This article adds to the momentum for cost-effective cardio screening of athletes.

Routine testing of the hearts of young American athletes using electrocardiograms to screen for sudden death is “reasonable in cost and effective at saving lives,” according to a new study by cardiologists at the Stanford University School of Medicine. 

Read on...

The American Academy of Pediatrics on Athletes with Systemic Hypertension

Source: American Academy of Pediatrics

Once considered rare, primary hypertension in children has become increasingly common in association with obesity and other risk factors, including a family history of hypertension and an ethnic predisposition to hypertensive disease. Obese children are at approximately a 3-fold higher risk for hypertension than nonobese children, and currently about 17% of children ages 6-19 years of age are obese.

Given these statistics, coaches and parents should be aware of the risk factors associated with participation in sports for a child who has systemic hypertension, as well as precautionary steps which should be taken. This article by the American Academy of Pediatrics provides a quick primer along with steps we can take to assure the safety of our athletes.

Click here to view full article at the American Academy of Pediatrics website.

Staying Abreast of Heart Conditions in Young Athletes

By Kate Bright

We don't normally think about young athletes having heart conditions, but it is important to understand it can happen. To detect these cases most programs have athletes take part in physical examinations, which can detect some but not all heart problems. As a parent or coach, if there is a history of heart disease in the athlete's family, or if there is any thought in your mind that an athlete may have a heart condition, encourage the athlete to get more than a routine athletic physical.  That ounce of prevention might save a life.

It also helps to get educated about the different kinds of heart conditions affecting athletes. There are many articles throughout the internet addressing cardiac issues in young athletes. Below are a two resources addressing specific conditions.

HOCM, or Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, is the most common cause of sudden death in athletes under 30 years of age. This heart condition, put in the most simplest of terms, is an enlargement and hardening of the left side of the heart. Rodney Samaan writes about previous cases of HOCM in athletics, and describes the condition in his article, Sudden Cardiac Death in Athletes.

ARVD, Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia, is another heart condition which the medical industry is still trying to understand. Instances of sudden death due to ARVD occur mostly in Italy, accounting for 25% of cardiac sudden death. It has found to be related to genetic mutations, and instances have been reported throughout the United States, accounting for 5% of the 300,000 cardiac related deaths in the U.S.  The medical industry hopes someday a blood test will be the more accurate and the easiest way to diagnose ARVD. This article by Lynda Belcher, Genetic Roots of Rare but Often Fatal Heart Condition in Young Athletes, does a nice job describing ARVD and the hopes of future diagnosing.

Thanks for promoting positive youth development through sports!