Long-term Follow-up of Early Repolarization Pattern in Elite Athletes

Abstract

A third of elite athletes presented ERP, and this persisted in 53.4% of cases after retirement. After a long follow-up period, no difference in outcome of SCD was seen.

Prevalence and determinants of the early repolarisation pattern in a group of young high endurance rowers

“…In our study population, the prevalence of ER pattern was 29.9%, which closely corresponds to the results reported by other authors and confirms common occurrence of such ECG alterations in high endurance athletes [2,13,[25][26][27]. Despite nearly identical overall prevalence of the ER pattern, large differences in the rates of these alterations in specific leads were noted between various studies.…”

Seven years follow‐up of early repolarisation patterns in French elite special forces

“…Inferior (Haruta et al, 2011;Klatsky et al, 2003;Kui et al, 2008;Noseworthy et al, 2011;Serra-Grima et al, 2015;Sinner et al, 2010;Sun et al, 2017;Uberoi et al, 2011).…”

Early Repolarization in Athletes

“…This contrasts with findings in healthy elite athletes, where the ER pattern disappears in >50% after detraining. 30 Furthermore, it is intriguing that there were no further arrhythmic events after sports discontinuation in the sudden cardiac arrest survivors. This is not in keeping with the findings from the original study by Haïssaguerre et al, 3 where recurrent arrhythmic events were common in patients with ER during follow-up.…”

“…On the contrary, several studies have demonstrated a lack of an association between J waves and malignant arrhythmias in athletes during medium to long-term follow-up. [28][29][30]37 However, given the rarity of SCD in athletes (annual incidence of 1/75 000 to 1/200 000 per year), 38,39 it should be pointed out that these longitudinal studies, although some are of considerable size and length, remain underpowered. Nevertheless, after taking all of the above into account, several international expert consensus documents categorize ER, of all subtypes, as a benign ECG finding in athletes.…”

“…Prevalence estimates vary from Early Repolarization in Athletes 8% to 44%, which is considerably higher than in the general population (Table). 10,18,21,[27][28][29][30] In an elegant study design, Noseworthy et al 28 demonstrated that exercise training can induce both the benign and the malignant ER pattern. In college athletes who returned to intense training, ER was present in 37% before, and in 53% after, an intense 90-day training period (P<0.01).…”