Do ventricular arrhythmias in athletes subside over time?

Therese Fuchs*, Amram Torjman, Luba Galitzkaya, Marina Leitman, Rutie Pilz-Burstein

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: Sudden death in athletes can occur during sport activities and is presumably related to ventricular arrhythmias. Objectives: To investigate the long-term follow-up of athletes with ventricular arrhythmias during an exercise test. Methods: From a database of 56,462 athletes we identified 192 athletes < 35 years old who had ventricular arrhythmias during an exercise test. Ninety athletes had ≥ 3 ventricular premature beats (VPB) (group A) and 102 athletes had ventricular couplets or non-sustained ventricular tachycardia (NSVT) during an exercise test (group B). A control group of 92 athletes without ventricular arrhythmias was randomly selected from the database (group C). Of the 192 athletes 39 returned for a repeat exercise test after a mean follow-up period of 70 ± 25 months and they constitute the study population. Results: Twelve athletes from group A, 21 from group B and 6 from group C returned for a repeat exercise test. The athletes reached a significantly lower peak heart rate during their follow-up exercise test (P = 0.001). More athletes were engaged in competitive sports during their initial exercise test than in the follow-up test (P = 0.021). Most of the athletes who had VPB and/or ventricular couplets and/or NSVT during their initial exercise test had far fewer ventricular arrhythmias in the follow-up exercise test (P = 0.001). Conclusions: Athletes engaged in competitive sports are more likely to develop ventricular arrhythmias during exercise. These arrhythmias subside over time when athletes are engaged in non-competitive sports.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)553-556
Number of pages4
JournalIsrael Medical Association Journal
Volume15
Issue number9
StatePublished - Sep 2013

Keywords

  • Arrhythmias
  • Competitive sports
  • Exercise testing
  • Ventricular premature beats (VBP)

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Do ventricular arrhythmias in athletes subside over time?'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this