Collegiate athletes are some of the healthiest people around. Being a college student and excelling in a sport at a level that rivals professionals would make anyone feel invincible. Among all the challenges they face, one threat to take caution with is Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD). Kim Harmon is a professor at the University of Washington. She and her colleagues have done research on this subject for 20 years. According to Prof Harmon, the odds for this incident are 300 to 1, but with the proper preparation from new data released, everyone can play a part in minimizing this threat.
“Sudden Cardiac Death is the leading cause of non-accidental death in young people.
It happens more often than death from heat illness, death from head injuries, and death from sickle cell trait. This is something that we can potentially prevent,” said Harmon.
The American Heart Association released a report on Sudden Cardiac Death on November 13. The information features data collected by Harmon and other experts. According to the report, SCD happens when an electrical malfunction causes a rapid, irregular heart rhythm that stops the heart. The first cause that led to Harmon and a team of experts starting a 20-year study on this matter was in July 2002. Kayla Bert was a University of Washington women’s basketball team player. On New Year’s Eve, hanging with her friends, Kayla collapsed because her heart stopped beating from a cardiac arrest, according to The New Yorker. She needed medical attention, and one of her friends performed CPR until the paramedics arrived. The professionals were able to revive her, but the result of that incident led to Kayla getting an implantable cardioverter defibrillator.
“I had two questions. One is, what did I miss? And how often does this happen? I started looking into it more seriously at that point. In the United States, there’s no mandatory reporting for sudden cardiac death or arrest of an athlete. We picked the NCAA population one because of the population of interest to me. Still, also they’re high profile athletes for the most part, and we have several different sources where we can find cases,” said Harmon.
The report reveals college male basketball players had the highest incidence rate of SCD. Black male basketball players are three times more likely to experience SCD than white basketball players. Men, in general, are at risk four times higher than women. Dr. Shelley Miyamoto is a director of the Cardiomyopathy Program at Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora. She says some disparities need further study, and genetic testing should be pursued to get the results.
“Genetic testing may potentially provide some answers for why an athlete died suddenly, and it may also provide some insight into whether other family members could be at risk. If we can’t understand the cause of the sudden cardiac death, it is going to be difficult for people to accept and understand how to prevent it in the future.” Dr. Miyamoto said in the report.
The positive news from the study was that the numbers of SCD are down.
Over the 20 years, Harmon and her team looked at 1102 autopsy reports and medical histories of NCAA athletes. Only 143 cases were caused by sudden cardiac death. Harmon credits people being trained in CPR and the ability to recognize cardiac arrest for the drop in numbers.
“The new thing in this study is that the rate has decreased over the last ten years. We don’t think that’s because this doesn’t occur frequently. We think that it’s probably gone down because we’re better at treating, recognizing, and sudden cardiac death in athletes,” said Harmon.
There are a few signs of a cardiac arrest Harmon recommends to look out for.
If an athlete feels chest pains, making them stop exercising is one sign. Another sign is if they faint while exercising. Harmon also encourages getting an expert if an athlete has weird heartbeats that cause them to stop exercising or have them lightheaded. Another preventive step for parents is having their athlete screened with an electric cardiogram (EKG) machine. Most universities have EKG machines to screen their athletes. More information about SCD and other related topics can be found at https://orccastudy.org/