Centres of sports cardiology in Czechia - first experiences

Abstract

Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Background/Introduction Sports cardiology is a subspeciality of cardiology. It differs from general cardiology practice; the presence of an athlete’s heart can be challenging to differentiate from incipient cardiac pathologies, and athletes often present with atypical symptoms and expectations. In Czechia, three Centres of Sports Cardiology (CSC) for athletes older than 15 years and one for children were founded 2020 and endorsed by the Czech Society of Cardiology and the Czech Society of Sports medicine. Purpose The present study aims to share our experience from the first two years of functioning two tertiary sport cardiology centres (Centre 1 and Centre 2) Methods Only athletes registered for the examination from 1st January 2020 till 7th November 2021 were included. Results We included 149 athletes (79 from Centre 1 and 71 from Centre 2). The mean age was 29 ± 13 years. The majority of sports were mixed (n= 83) than endurance (n=58) and very few power (n=3) and skill sports (n=1). The main reason for examination was abnormal preparticipation screening results (n=46), symptoms (n=45) and abnormal findings on complementary examination (n=31). Only two athletes were indicated from cascade screening and one athlete after sudden cardiac arrest. In CSC we performed electrocardiograms (n=101), echocardiography (n=77), HolterECG (n=39), 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (n=3), cardiac magnetic resonance (n=13) one CT-coronary angiography, cardiopulmonary exercise stress test (n=41), invasive coronary angiography (n=3), other examination (n=15). We were able to ascertain a diagnosis in 113 athletes; a suspected diagnosis was in 14 athletes, and in 20, we were unable to set any diagnosis. The main conclusions were that 79 (53%) of athletes were eligible to sport participation, in 34 (23%) of athletes, the eligibility had a condition, and only 10 (6.7 %) athletes were ineligible to sport participation. (However, the main conclusions were that 79 (53%) of athletes were eligible to sport participation, in 34 (23%) of athletes, the eligibility had a condition, and only 10 (6.7 %) athletes were ineligible to sport participation. ) The ineligibility was due to cardiomyopathy (n=5), long QT syndrome (n=2), valvular heart disease (n=1), Marfan syndrome (n=1), preexcitation syndrome (n=1). Only six athletes were lost to follow-up, and in 13 (8.7 %), the examination process was not yet closed. Conclusion(s) The establishment of sports cardiology centres in Czechia respects the global trend in cardiovascular care for athletes. The first 22 months of their work confirm the importance of their existence with the centralization of subspecialty cardiology care. Confirmation of the trend is the establishment of full eligibility in 76% of examined athletes. Similarly, the non-recommendation of further sports activity in less than 7% of examined athletes again confirms the correctness of the existence of sports cardiology centres.