Electrocardiographic and morphological cardiac remodeling in competitive female athletes - a scoping review.

Aims: To quantitatively analyse exercise-induced cardiac remodeling (EICR) data in female athletes.

Methods: This scoping review included from the databases Medline, Embase, and Google Scholar, peer-reviewed original English-language articles on female athlete-populations aged ≥18 years containing data on electrocardiography (ECG), echocardiography or cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR), and excluded athletes with cardiovascular conditions. From the extracted ECG data, we calculated prevalence percentages, and from the imaging data we compared the results with the upper reference limits of the general female population (URL).

Quality of athlete screening for high-risk cardiovascular conditions-A systematic review.

Background: Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is the leading medical cause of death in athletes. To prevent SCD, screening for high-risk cardiovascular conditions (HRCC) is recommended. Screening strategies are based on a limited number of studies and expert consensus.

Exercise Training Induces Left- but not Right-sided Cardiac Remodelling in Olympic Rowers.

Whilst the athlete's heart has been extensively described, less work has focused on the potential for elite athletes to demonstrate further cardiac remodelling upon an increase in training volume. Moreover, little work explored potential side-specific cardiac remodelling. Therefore, we examined the impact of an increase in training volume across 9-months in elite rowers on left- and right-sided cardiac structure, function and mechanics (i.

Immediate Bystander Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation to Sudden Cardiac Arrest During Sports is Associated with Improved Survival-a Video Analysis.

Background: Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) during sports can be the first symptom of yet undetected cardiovascular conditions. Immediate chest compressions and early defibrillation offer SCA victims the best chance of survival, which requires prompt bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

Aims: To determine the effect of rapid bystander CPR to SCA during sports by searching for and analyzing videos of these SCA/SCD events from the internet.

Athletes with valvular heart disease and competitive sports: a position statement of the Sport Cardiology Section of the European Association of Preventive Cardiology.

This article provides an overview of the recommendations from the Sports Cardiology section of the European Association of Preventive Cardiology on sports participation in individuals with valvular heart disease (VHD). The aim of these recommendations is to encourage regular physical activity including sports participation, with reasonable precaution to ensure a high level of safety for all affected individuals. Valvular heart disease is usually an age-related degenerative process, predominantly affecting individuals in their fifth decade and onwards.

ECG criteria for the detection of high-risk cardiovascular conditions in master athletes.

Objective: Structured electrocardiography (ECG) analysis is used to screen athletes for high-risk cardiovascular conditions (HRCC) to prevent sudden cardiac death. ECG criteria have been specified and recommended for use in young athletes ≤ 35 years. However, it is unclear whether these ECG criteria can also be applied to master athletes >35 years.

Brief recommendations for participation in competitive sports of athletes with arterial hypertension: Summary of a Position Statement from the Sports Cardiology Section of the European Association of Preventive Cardiology (EAPC).

Owing to its undisputed multitude of beneficial effects, European Society of Cardiology guidelines advocate regular physical activity as a class IA recommendation for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease. Nonetheless, competitive athletes with arterial hypertension may be exposed to an increased risk of cardiovascular events. Guidance to physicians will be given in this summary of our recently published recommendations for participation in competitive sports of athletes with arterial hypertension.

Recommendations for participation in competitive and leisure time sport in athletes with cardiomyopathies, myocarditis, and pericarditis: position statement of the Sport Cardiology Section of the European Association of Preventive Cardiology (EAPC).

Myocardial diseases are associated with an increased risk of potentially fatal cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death/cardiac arrest during exercise, including hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, dilated cardiomyopathy, left ventricular non-compaction, arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy, and myo-pericarditis. Practicing cardiologists and sport physicians are required to identify high-risk individuals harbouring these cardiac diseases in a timely fashion in the setting of preparticipation screening or medical consultation and provide appropriate advice regarding the participation in competitive sport activities and/or regular exercise programmes. Many asymptomatic (or mildly symptomatic) patients with cardiomyopathies aspire to participate in leisure-time and amateur sport activities to take advantage of the multiple benefits of a physically active lifestyle.

Recommendations for participation in competitive sports of athletes with arterial hypertension: a position statement from the sports cardiology section of the European Association of Preventive Cardiology (EAPC).

Current guidelines of the European Society of Cardiology advocate regular physical activity as a Class IA recommendation for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease. Despite its undisputed multitude of beneficial effects, competitive athletes with arterial hypertension may be exposed to an increased risk of cardiovascular events. This document is an update of the 2005 recommendations and will give guidance to physicians who have to decide on the risk of an athlete during sport participation.

Athletes with channelopathy may be eligible to play.

The European and Bethesda recommendations roughly state that any athlete with channelopathy is not eligible to participate in sports on a presumed risk of potentially life-threatening ventricular tachycardia or fibrillation. However, eligibility decision-making on a presumed risk of ventricular tachycardia or fibrillation is debatable. Channelopathies are primary electrical cardiac disorders and are usually transmitted as an autosomal dominant trait.

A new consensus document on electrocardiographic interpretation in athletes: does it help to prevent sudden cardiac death in athletes?

Sudden cardiac arrest or death (SCA/SCD) in athletes has a low event rate. Pre-participation or eligibility screening is a widely accepted method of primary prevention of SCA/SCD in athletes. Most European countries and international sports governing bodies perform ECG-inclusive screening.

Early recognition of sudden cardiac arrest in athletes during sports activity.

Introduction: Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) in athletes is an unexpected life-threatening event, which is often not recognised early and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is not always initiated immediately. We describe key features to rapidly recognise non-traumatic SCA in athletes during sports activity.

Methods: We reviewed videos and images of athletes suffering from non-traumatic SCA during sports activity.

Sudden cardiac arrest in sports - need for uniform registration: A Position Paper from the Sport Cardiology Section of the European Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation.

There are large variations in the incidence, registration methods and reported causes of sudden cardiac arrest/sudden cardiac death (SCA/SCD) in competitive and recreational athletes. A crucial question is to which degree these variations are genuine or partly due to methodological incongruities. This paper discusses the uncertainties about available data and provides comprehensive suggestions for standard definitions and a guide for uniform registration parameters of SCA/SCD.

Legal responsibilities of physicians when making participation decisions in athletes with cardiac disorders: Do guidelines provide a solid legal footing?

Safe sports participation involves protecting athletes from injury and life-threatening situations. Preparticipation cardiovascular screening (PPS) in athletes is intended to prevent exercise-related sudden cardiac death by medical management of athletes at risk, which may include disqualification from sports participation. The screening physician relies on current guidelines and expert recommendations for management and decision-making.

[Screening of athletes prevents sudden cardiac death].

The sudden cardiac death (SCD) of an athlete is always a dramatic event, and one wonders if it could have been prevented by pre-participation cardiovascular screening. For years now, a pro/con debate has been taking place on the pre-participation screening of athletes: the method, who is responsible, cost-effectiveness, obligatory or voluntary screening. In this pro-article, which agrees with the "sudden cardiac death can be prevented by routinely pre-participation cardiovascular screening"-standpoint, the unique Italian experience is the best argument for the support of screening.

Position paper: proposal for a core curriculum for a European Sports Cardiology qualification.

Sports cardiology is a new and rapidly evolving subspecialty. It aims to elucidate the cardiovascular effects of regular exercise and delineate its benefits and risks, so that safe guidance can be provided to all individuals engaging in sports and/or physical activity in order to attain the maximum potential benefit at the lowest possible risk. The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) advocates systematic preparticipation cardiovascular screening in an effort to identify competitive athletes at risk of exercise-related cardiovascular events and sudden cardiac death.

Consensus document regarding cardiovascular safety at sports arenas: position stand from the European Association of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation (EACPR), section of Sports Cardiology.

Mass gathering events in sports arenas create challenges regarding the cardiovascular safety of both athletes and spectators. A comprehensive medical action plan, to ensure properly applied cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and wide availability and use of automated external defibrillators (AEDs), is essential to improving survival from sudden cardiac arrest at sporting events. This paper outlines minimum standards for cardiovascular care to assist in the planning of mass gathering sports events across Europe with the intention of local adaptation at individual sports arenas, to ensure the full implementation of the chain of survival.

Recommendations for interpretation of 12-lead electrocardiogram in the athlete.

Cardiovascular remodelling in the conditioned athlete is frequently associated with physiological ECG changes. Abnormalities, however, may be detected which represent expression of an underlying heart disease that puts the athlete at risk of arrhythmic cardiac arrest during sports. It is mandatory that ECG changes resulting from intensive physical training are distinguished from abnormalities which reflect a potential cardiac pathology.