NCAA basketball players face a high risk of heart problems

When you watch the National Collegiate Athletic Association championship basketball game tonight, you'll undoubtedly see some fine young athletes in action. But such seemingly fit young people face a higher risk of death from heart problems than previously thought.

That's one of the findings of a study published online today in Circulation. Researchers looked at about 400,000 NCAA athletes age 17 to 23 who compete each year in in sports such as basketball and swimming.

In combing through data from news reports, insurance claims and the NCAA, researcher found a total of 273 athletes who died between 2004 to 2008. Of those deaths:

• 68 percent were identified as medical causes.
• 45 were related to sudden cardiac arrest events.
• 27 of the 36 deaths that occurred during or shortly after exertion were also related to cardiac causes.

In all, the study found that one in 43,770 athletes died annually of sudden cardiac death. Among some of the report's other findings:

• The risk for Division I male basketball athletes was about one in 3,000
• Basketball had the highest risk (1 in 11,394) followed by swimming, lacrosse, football and cross-country track
• African-American athletes had a risk of one in 17,696, compared with one in 58,653 for Caucasian competitors
• The risk for males was one in 33,134, compared with one in 76,646 for females

Athletic training and competition can increase the risk of sudden cardiac death in people with underlying heart disease, said the American Heart Association. The most common cause: hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, an abnormal growth of heart muscle fibers.

American Heart Association president Ralph L. Sacco, M.D., said in a press release: "We strongly encourage student-athletes and other participants in organized competitive sports to be screened with a careful history, including family history, and thorough physical examination."

In addition to more extensive health screenings for collegiate athletes, the AHA also recommends the placement of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in venues where the high-risks sports are played.

Read more about cardiovascular disease and heart attacks.

Sources

Incidence of Sudden Cardiac Death in National Collegiate
Athletic Association Athletes [American Heart Association]

Sudden Deaths in Athletes [Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation]

—Paul Eng