Antonio Pelliccia

A correction has been published:
\nEuropean Heart Journal, Volume 42, Issue 5, 1 February 2021, Pages 548–549, https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehaa835

The 1996 American Heart Association consensus panel recommendations stated that pre-participation cardiovascular screening for young competitive athletes is justifiable and compelling on ethical, legal, and medical grounds. The present article represents the consensus statement of the Study Group on Sports Cardiology of the Working Group on Cardiac Rehabilitation and Exercise Physiology and the Working Group on Myocardial and Pericardial diseases of the European Society of Cardiology, which comprises cardiovascular specialists and other physicians from different European countries with extensive clinical experience with young competitive athletes, as well as with pathological substrates of sudden death. The document takes note of the 25-year Italian experience on systematic pre-participation screening of competitive athletes and focuses on relevant issues, mostly regarding the relative risk, causes, and prevalence of sudden death in athletes; the efficacy, feasibility, and cost-effectiveness of population-based pre-participation cardiovascular screening; the key role of 12-lead ECG for identification of cardiovascular diseases such as cardiomyopathies and channelopathies at risk of sudden death during sports; and the potential of preventing fatal events. The main purpose of the consensus document is to reinforce the principle of the need for pre-participation medical clearance of all young athletes involved in organized sports programmes, on the basis of (i) the proven efficacy of systematic screening by 12-lead ECG (in addition to history and physical examination) to identify hypertrophic cardiomyopathy-the leading cause of sports-related sudden death-and to prevent athletic field fatalities; (ii) the potential screening ability in detecting other lethal cardiovascular diseases presenting with ECG abnormalities. The consensus document recommends the implementation of a common European screening protocol essentially based on 12-lead ECG.

BACKGROUND: In some highly trained athletes, the thickness of the left ventricular wall may increase as a consequence of exercise training and resemble that found in cardiac diseases associated with left ventricular hypertrophy, such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. In these athletes, the differential diagnosis between physiologic and pathologic hypertrophy may be difficult. METHODS: To address this issue, we measured left ventricular dimensions with echocardiography in 947 elite, highly trained athletes who participated in a wide variety of sports. RESULTS: The thickest left ventricular wall among the athletes measured 16 mm. Wall thicknesses within a range compatible with the diagnosis of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (greater than or equal to 13 mm) were identified in only 16 of the 947 athletes (1.7 percent); 15 were rowers or canoeists, and 1 was a cyclist. Therefore, the wall was greater than or equal to 13 mm thick in 7 percent of 219 rowers, canoeists, and cyclists but in none of 728 participants in 22 other sports. All athletes with walls greater than or equal to 13 mm thick also had enlarged left ventricular end-diastolic cavities (dimensions, 55 to 63 mm). CONCLUSIONS: On the basis of these data, a left-ventricular-wall thickness of greater than or equal to 13 mm is very uncommon in highly trained athletes, virtually confined to athletes training in rowing sports, and associated with an enlarged left ventricular cavity. In addition, the upper limit to which the thickness of the left ventricular wall may be increased by athletic training appears to be 16 mm. Therefore, athletes with a wall thickness of more than 16 mm and a nondilated left ventricular cavity are likely to have primary forms of pathologic hypertrophy, such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

A consensus document from the Study Group of Sports Cardiology of the Working Group of Cardiac Rehabilitation and Exercise Physiology and the Working Group of Myocardial and Pericardial Diseases of the European Society of Cardiology.

Habitual physical activity reduces coronary heart disease events, but vigorous activity can also acutely and transiently increase the risk of sudden cardiac death and acute myocardial infarction in susceptible persons. This scientific statement discusses the potential cardiovascular complications of exercise, their pathological substrate, and their incidence and suggests strategies to reduce these complications. Exercise-associated acute cardiac events generally occur in individuals with structural cardiac disease. Hereditary or congenital cardiovascular abnormalities are predominantly responsible for cardiac events among young individuals, whereas atherosclerotic disease is primarily responsible for these events in adults. The absolute rate of exercise-related sudden cardiac death varies with the prevalence of disease in the study population. The incidence of both acute myocardial infarction and sudden death is greatest in the habitually least physically active individuals. No strategies have been adequately studied to evaluate their ability to reduce exercise-related acute cardiovascular events. Maintaining physical fitness through regular physical activity may help to reduce events because a disproportionate number of events occur in least physically active subjects performing unaccustomed physical activity. Other strategies, such as screening patients before participation in exercise, excluding high-risk patients from certain activities, promptly evaluating possible prodromal symptoms, training fitness personnel for emergencies, and encouraging patients to avoid high-risk activities, appear prudent but have not been systematically evaluated.