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

TY - JOUR

T1 - Symptoms, diagnoses, and sporting consequences among athletes referred to a Danish sports cardiology clinic

AU - Kaiser-Nielsen, L V

AU - Tischer, S G

AU - Prescott, E B

AU - Rasmusen, H K

N1 - © 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

PY - 2017/1/1

Y1 - 2017/1/1

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - Adolescent

KW - Adult

KW - Aged

KW - Arrhythmias, Cardiac/diagnosis

KW - Athletes/statistics & numerical data

KW - Atrial Fibrillation/diagnosis

KW - Brugada Syndrome/diagnosis

KW - Cardiology

KW - Chest Pain

KW - Denmark/epidemiology

KW - Dyspnea

KW - Echocardiography

KW - Electrocardiography

KW - Exercise Tolerance

KW - Female

KW - Humans

KW - Hypertrophy, Right Ventricular/diagnosis

KW - Long QT Syndrome/diagnosis

KW - Male

KW - Middle Aged

KW - Prevalence

KW - Referral and Consultation

KW - Retrospective Studies

KW - Return to Sport

KW - Sports

KW - Syncope

KW - Tachycardia, Ventricular/diagnosis

KW - Ventricular Premature Complexes/diagnosis

KW - Young Adult

U2 - 10.1111/sms.12624

DO - 10.1111/sms.12624

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 26661094

SN - 0905-7188

VL - 27

SP - 115

EP - 123

JO - Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports

JF - Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports

IS - 1

ER -