Symptoms, diagnoses, and sporting consequences among athletes referred to a Danish sports cardiology clinic

Abstract

As the number of recreational athletes performing exercise and participating in competitions at a high-level increases, exercise-induced cardiac symptoms may become a more common problem, not least because recreational athletes often continue high-level exercise programs into advanced ages. We investigated the prevalence of cardiac symptoms and diagnoses among 201 athletes referred for cardiac evaluation at a Sports Cardiology Clinic in Denmark. To our knowledge, this is the first systematic study of athletes referred for suspected cardiac disease. The athletes were all well-trained recreational to elite athletes who participated in various sports with different training loads and a wide age span (13-66 years). All patients were referred by physicians, primarily their general practitioner (38%), and palpitations were the most common cardiac symptom (40%). Cardiac symptoms had a sensitivity of 86% in detecting cardiac disease and a specificity of 13%. Cardiac disease was diagnosed in 44% of the patients, and atrial fibrillation was the most prevalent diagnosis (7.5%). Cardiac diseases with therapeutic- or sports-related consequences for the patients were diagnosed in 28% of the population, but only 1% received a recommendation to avoid high-level sports indefinitely.

Are heart rate monitors valuable tools for diagnosing arrhythmias in endurance athletes?

“…The answer to the question, “Are the asymptomatic, self‐limiting ‘arrhythmias’ detected using an HRM real arrhythmias or artifacts?” may save the athlete's life. Arrhythmias have been observed in athletes with “healthy hearts,” but it is not a negative prognostic factor and does not constitute grounds for abstaining from sporting activities . Cardiac arrhythmia is also not uncommon in healthy non‐athletes .…”