Sport and sudden death in children

• Main Author: L. M. Makarov
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: Ltd. “The National Academy of Pediatric Science and Innovation” 2017-04-01
• Series: Rossijskij Vestnik Perinatologii i Pediatrii
• Subjects: children; athletes; sudden cardiac death; epidemiology; etiology; prevention; automated external defibrillators
• Online Access: https://www.ped-perinatology.ru/jour/article/view/450

The article presents data on contemporary views of the prevalence, causes, circumstances of sudden cardiac death, and its prevention measures in children and adolescents during sports activity. It notes a difficulty in defining the epidemiology of the above condition because the data are primarily based upon mass media news coverage. The incidence of sudden cardiac death is approximately 1 per 100,000 young athletes; more than 90% boys die. The sports, during which sudden cardiac death often occurs, include (both American and European) football, basketball, and hockey. Sudden cardiac death due to cоmmоtio cordis (life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias resulting from a blow with a blunt instrument to the area of the heart during the vulnerable phase of the cardiac cycle) is considered separately. Children who die suddenly during sports are frequently detected to have hypertrophic cardiomyopathy or myocarditis; but no changes are found in more than 50% of cases at autopsy, which is suggestive of primary arrhythmogenic death. The basis for prevention is the early detection of diseases that can cause sudden death during sports, regular examination, knowledge of ECG characteristics in athletes, and first aid techniques, including the use of automated external defibrillators.