Symptoms, diagnoses, and sporting consequences among athletes referred to a Danish sports cardiology clinic
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports |
Volume | 27 |
Issue number | 1 |
Pages (from-to) | 115-123 |
ISSN | 0905-7188 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2017 |
- Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Arrhythmias, Cardiac/diagnosis, Athletes/statistics & numerical data, Atrial Fibrillation/diagnosis, Brugada Syndrome/diagnosis, Cardiology, Chest Pain, Denmark/epidemiology, Dyspnea, Echocardiography, Electrocardiography, Exercise Tolerance, Female, Humans, Hypertrophy, Right Ventricular/diagnosis, Long QT Syndrome/diagnosis, Male, Middle Aged, Prevalence, Referral and Consultation, Retrospective Studies, Return to Sport, Sports, Syncope, Tachycardia, Ventricular/diagnosis, Ventricular Premature Complexes/diagnosis, Young Adult
Research areas
ID: 194916889