By Armstrong Vas
Doha: Athletes of African and Afro-Caribbean descent are more likely to succumb to sport-related sudden death on a sport field, says Sanjay Sharma, professor of inherited cardiac diseases and sports cardiology of St George’s University of London.
The cardiologist professor said ethnicity appears to contribute to sudden death risk on the play field.
“There have not been many studies on the risk of sudden death, specifically in relation to some ones ethnicity, but preliminary data from some studies have showed that a black athlete is more likely to die on an athletic field then a white athlete.
“Whether they (black athletes) are vulnerable to sudden death because of race or whether it is because they have less access to health services it is a difficult to find out, so more studies need to be done (on the subject),” the UK-based academician said while talking to The Peninsula.
Sharma is in Qatar for the two-day IOC Sports Cardiology Course ‘Preventing Sudden Cardiac Death in Elite Athletes’ organised by Aspetar
Sharma said race plays a key role when an athlete’s ECG is analysed for sudden death threats.
“Athletes of African or Afro-Caribbean origin have more marked ESG changes than European and Arabic athletes, that is a fact, and sometimes these ECG changes can resemble a disease process. So when we do interpret an ECG we have to take the race of an athlete into account.
But the world he said is changing with mixed marriages and people analysing ECG’s have a tough time to find out the ethnicity of athletes.
“Of course, we are globalizing with so many mixed marriages especially in the Western World. For example in countries like France, UK, US there are many individuals who have one parent who is either a white American or a black Afro-Caribbean in those situations when we do ESG we would have difficulty in analysing whether its a white person’s ECG or a black person’s ECG,” he said about the challenges faces researchers in the field of sudden death on the sports field.
Sudden death in young athletic individuals is a rare but tragic event and studies examining sudden death in athletes report a wide range of prevalence.
Sharma cautioned that people handling an athlete’s ECG should be trained as lapses as labelling a perfect normal athlete as not fit for sport can have several ramifications for the disqualified athlete.
“The ECG is very useful in identifying athletes that may be at risk of a sudden death. I think it is very crucial people, who interrupt ECG are trained, because sometimes manifestation of athletic training can look abnormal, so I believe, once an abnormal ECG is identified further comprehensive evaluation is needed before labelling an athlete with a diagnosis.
“I say this because sometimes as an enormous label can have serious consequences, for example an erroneous label of a heart disease in an athlete who is actually completely fine disqualifies their career which is very costly in terms of physical, psychological and financial terms. Conversely an erroneous assessment of an athlete’s heart can jeopardize a young life,” he added.
Besides, Sharma, Professor Antonio Pelliccia, a cardiologist and IOC Medical and Scientific Group Member, and Professor Jon Drezner, sports medicine physician and Super Bowl winnner will present their experience of collectively screening over 50,000 athletes.
The educational course in Qatar aims to provide National Olympic Committee (NOC) team physicians from around the world with the most up-to-date academic and practical information on investigating the prevention of sudden cardiac death in elite athletes. Aspetar will assist 20 NOC team physicians currently working with Olympic and international athletes.
Commenting on the event, Professor Mathew Wilson, Head of Athlete Health and Performance Research, said: “We will present several topics related to the cardiovascular adaptation that occurs with regular and intensive exercise, including the impact of age, gender, ethnicity, and sporting discipline. We will also present our work on managing and developing safety and emergency procedures for sudden cardiac arrest in the sporting arena.
Aspetar’s medical staff has screened over 9,000 athletes and continues to educate Qatar’s club and federation doctors regarding pre-participation screening.”
Aspetar is the first group in the world to publish data on cardiovascular adaptations to exercise in those of Arabic ethnicity when we examined the prevalence of ECG. THE PENINSULA
