A small percentage of college athletes in the Big Ten Conference who contracted COVID-19 and later recovered were subsequently diagnosed with heart inflammation, also known as myocarditis, Axios reports.
JAMA Cardiology released a new study on Thursday showing that about 40 out of 1,597 college athletes from Big Ten schools who tested positive for COVID-19 and later underwent a cardiac evaluation were diagnosed with clinical or subclinical myocarditis. Nine of the student-athletes showed symptoms, including chest pain and heart palpitations.
The study notes that ”Myocarditis is a significant risk factor for [sudden cardiac death] in athletes, especially at younger ages. In an autopsy study of U.S. Air Force recruits with SCD, physical activity was a risk factor, and the most common suspected underlying factor was unrecognized myocarditis. In another study, lymphocytic myocarditis was a common cause of ventricular arrhythmias. Several studies have shown that physical exertion leads to worsening disease and eventual death in mouse models of myocarditis.”
The researchers add, ”While there may be a concern that [cardiovascular magnetic resonance] imaging is too sensitive and therefore unduly restrict athletes from sport, such a scenario would only account for a very small proportion of the population based on our study.
”In our view, the role of CMR imaging in routine screening for athletes’ safe RTP should be explored further; we could then better assess the possible risk to those athletes with undiagnosed subclinical myocarditis who exercise and the benefit of ruling out significant myocardial inflammation and injury by a normal CMR.”
Axios notes that this issue, and the fact that its long-term effects are unknown, played a part in the Big Ten and other collegiate athletic conferences’ decision to postpone their seasons last fall.
“The data we are going to collect from testing and the cardiac registry will provide major contributions for all 14 Big Ten institutions as they study COVID-19 and attempt to mitigate the spread of the disease among wider communities,” Ohio State team physician Dr. Jim Borchers said in a statement last September.
Curt Daniels, a cardiologist and professor at Ohio State Wexner Medical Center and one of the JAMA Cardiology study’s lead researchers, told Axios that people who contracted COVID-19 and had no initial chest pain or palpitations can still take part in physical activity if they ”take it more slowly.”
He added, “We do think exercise is safe after COVID[-19]. You should slowly increase your activity in exercise and make sure you don’t have symptoms as you go back.”
Source: Newmax
