Sudden cardiac events/deaths in young people.

Abstract

Background: Over the decades, sports and physical activity have been on trend to focus on the future, to make it a little lighter, and brighter. Physical activity is said to be a modifiable risk factor that helps the individual to have an inverse relationship with comorbidities like high blood pressure, high blood sugar etc and benefits cardiovascular health. However, it is also proven that sudden deaths occur usually shortly after vigorous physical activity. Although sudden cardiac deaths (SCD)/Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) are seen at all ages, SCD in young adolescents has drawn major attraction. This study distinctly focuses on determining the ways to prevent unexpected or unforeseen negative health impacts on the young generation during vigorous exertion especially during sports and to assess the effectiveness of the existing screening methods to identify SCD. This paper followed Systematic Literature Review (SLR) and data was extracted, analysed, and summarised.

Methods: Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, EBSCO host and grey literature like google scholar, NHS website, Office of National Registry (ONS), UK National Screening Programmes, Cardiac Risk for Young (CRY) website were searched, and six prospective observational studies were selected. The mentioned databases were searched using a traditional search strategy and five papers were obtained. The population of interest included young athletes and young non-athletes. In this study, only paper published in the United Kingdom were included, and therefore may not apply to the other regions.

Results: Results from the final five eligible studies showed that pre-participation cardiac screening (PPCS) has a positive effect in identifying young people at risk and proved the effectiveness of PPCS. Evidence also showed it is not only the young athletes at risk, but non-athletes as well. And so, it is important to standardize and mandate the screening protocols where necessary.

Conclusion: Various causes have been identified during the research which resulted in SCD/SCA in young athletes. Despite the significant controversy in this topic, the observational and cross-sectional studies included in this paper have shown that PPSC, clinical investigations like ECGs, on-site TTE and 24-hour ECG monitoring help in identifying and preventing unexpected cardiac events. Further research is necessary to fill in the evidence as cardiovascular disease (CVD) has always been a public health problem. Recommendations to prevent such tragic events were also included, highlighting the need for further research.