Cardiology specialists tell our patients that exercise and sports practice is highly recommended for good cardiovascular and metabolic health. It may be, however, that we do not stop to define which sport is the most advisable for each person according to his or her age, state of health and physical condition.
High-performance sports competitions are becoming more and more numerous and popular. The problem is that many of the participants do not prepare well, while others are unaware of their cardiovascular health.
We have the case of two participants aged 45 and 57 who died during a marathon held in a town in the Valencian Community.
Risks of triathlon
Researchers from the Minneapolis Heart Institute (USA) analyzed the cardiovascular events that occurred during triathlon-type competitions (a combination of swimming, cycling and running). It was conducted over 15 years, from 1999 to 2014, and they found that 109 athletes, with an average age of 47 years, had died during this competition.
Ninety percent of the deceased were male. In addition, another 12 triathletes suffered cardiocirculatory arrests during the event, although fortunately they were able to be resuscitated by emergency medical services.
Most of the deaths occurred during the swimming and cycling. On the other hand, almost half of the competitors died during the so-called “short” triathlons, which is the most common type of triathlon for beginners.
Autopsies confirmed that slightly more than half of the deaths occurred as a consequence of coronary artery disease which, in most of the deceased, had not given rise to clinical symptoms prior to the test.
Other common pathologies in these cases are mitral valve prolapse, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, Brugada syndrome and arrhythmogenic ventricular dysplasias, together with an unfavorable genetic load.
Medical certificate
In Spain, around 127 sportsmen and women die every year during or immediately after sports practice. For this reason, it is necessary and obligatory for the Health Authorities to require a medical certificate from the participants, at least in high performance competitions.
Thus, there is an undeniable need to examine the cardiovascular health of the participants prior to this type of test by means of reliable diagnostic techniques, which should include a stress electrocardiogram and Doppler echocardiogram.