Sudden cardiac death in young competitive athletes.

ABSTRACT: When an athlete suffers a sudden cardiac death, particularly while participating in a sport being viewed by thousands of spectators, it is a rare and catastrophic event that generates a great deal of discussion among the general public and medical community. Many cardiovascular conditions can predispose an athlete to such an event. The most common causes of sudden cardiac death in athletes are hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy. Other causes include myocarditis, coronary artery anomalies, valvular disease, aortic dissection, commotio cordis, and electrical disorders such as Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, long QT syndrome, and Brugada syndrome. Multiple studies have tried to determine the incidence of sudden cardiac death in athletes, but this has proven to be difficult because of differing definitions, inconsistent identification of causes of death, and geographic variation. Further studies are needed to determine the costeffectiveness of pre-participation screening programs for competitive athletes and to inform strategies that can reduce the burden of sudden cardiac death in this population. A thletes are thought to represent the pinnacle of health and fitness. When a young athlete suffers a sudden cardiac death (SCD), it is a rare but catastrophic event that garners attention from the media, the general public, and the medical community. SCD in athletes is often the result of lethal arrhythmias caused by genetic disorders that have gone undiagnosed because patients tend to be asymptomatic. In addition to inherited disorders, other risk factors and conditions can predispose athletes to cardiac events.