Do ventricular arrhythmias in athletes subside over time?

Background: Sudden death in athletes can occur during sport activities and is presumably related to ventricular arrhythmias.

Objectives: To investigate the long-term follow-up ofathletes with ventricular arrhythmias during an exercise test.

Methods: From a database of 56,462 athletes we identified 192 athletes (35 years old who had ventricular arrhythmias during an exercise test. Ninety athletes had > or =3 ventricular premature beats (VPB) (group A) and 102 athletes had ventricular couplets or non-sustained ventricular tachycardia during an exercise test (group B). A control group of 92 athletesfrom without ventricular arrhythmias was randomly seleclted from the database (group C). Of the 192 athletes 39 returnied for a repeat exercise test after a mean follow-up period of 70 +/- 25 months and they constitute the study population.

Results: Twelve athletes from group A, 21 fromgroup B and 6 from group C returned for a repeat exercise test. The athletes reached a significantly lower peak heart rate during their follow-up exercise test (P = 0.001). More athletes were engaged in competitive sports during their initialexercise test than in the follow-up test (P = 0.021). Most of theathletes who had VPB and/orventricular couplets and/or NSVT during their initial exercise test had far fewer ventricular arrhythmias in the follow-up exercise test (P = 0.001).

Conclusions: Athletes engaged in competitive sports are more likely to develop ventricular arrhythmias during exercise. These arrhythmias subside over time when athletes are engaged in non-competitive sports.