# What can cause sudden cardiac arrest in a young athlete? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 19, 2012, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-cause-sudden-cardiac-arrest-in-a-young-athlete/616221 "2012-03-19T13:31:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-cause-sudden-cardiac-arrest-in-a-young-athlete/616221/1 "2012-03-19T13:31:59Z")
Based upon[this unfortunate event](http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17419654)which happened over the weekend what would cause a healthy young man tom collapse in Cardiac arrest? And apparently they missed it in [ECG’s done at his club](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17429446) [QUOTE=BBC] It has been reported that the Bolton player had four such screenings during his career, the latest of which was done last summer. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-cause-sudden-cardiac-arrest-in-a-young-athlete/616221/2 "2012-03-19T16:54:34Z")
So,no ideas? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-cause-sudden-cardiac-arrest-in-a-young-athlete/616221/3 "2012-03-19T17:23:28Z")
There’s [Commodio cordis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commotio_cordis), which has been on-and-off in the news over the last few years, but that tends to affect much younger players (early mid teens) and requires an impact to the chest during a critical time in the heartbeat. That doesn’t sound like what happened with your guy, but I’m just putting it out there as one answer to the general OP question. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-cause-sudden-cardiac-arrest-in-a-young-athlete/616221/4 "2012-03-19T17:33:50Z")
I’m not a doctor, but I am a suffer of CVD, so I’ve done a bit of research. AFAIK. most sudden cardiac deaths that are not CVD-related are due to electrical problems in the heart. There are a few individuals who have pacemaker (the sinus node type, not the implanted type) irregularities. Most of the time (99.99999% of the time) the heart beats normally, but very,very rarely it gets into an uncoordinated beat (fibrillation). This leads to death within minutes unless CPR is successful. It turns out that athletes are actually more susceptible to these problems than the general population, possibly due to their more muscular hearts. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-cause-sudden-cardiac-arrest-in-a-young-athlete/616221/5 "2012-03-19T17:36:14Z")
From [uptodate.com](http://uptodate.com) > [@](#): > > Several large series have evaluated SCD in athletes less than 35 years of age. Structural heart disease was present in most cases, but the distribution of underlying diseases varied with geographic location. > > •Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy - 36 percent, with possible HCM in another 8 percent > •Anomalous origin of a coronary artery - 17 percent > •Myocarditis - 6 percent > •Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy - 4 percent > •Mitral valve prolapse - 4 percent > •Aortic stenosis - 3 percent > •Tunneled coronary artery - 3 percent > •Coronary atherosclerosis - 3 percent > •Ion channelopathies - 3 percent > •Idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy - 2 percent > •Ruptured aortic aneurysm - 2 percent > •Other congenital heart disease - 2 percent > > Among young athletes dying with HCM, greater than 50 percent are African-American. > > Another study series included data on over 6 million military recruits in the United States (mean age 19, range 17 to 35). There were 126 nontraumatic sudden deaths, of which 108 (86 percent) were related to exercise. Autopsies were performed in all cases. Of the 64 deaths due to an identifiable cardiac abnormality, the most common were anomalous coronary origin (33 percent), myocarditis (20 percent), coronary atherosclerosis (16 percent), and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (13 percent). ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-cause-sudden-cardiac-arrest-in-a-young-athlete/616221/6 "2012-03-19T18:15:25Z")
continued, from [uptodate.com](http://uptodate.com) > [@](#): > > SCD during athletics also occurs in the absence of structural heart disease. A number of inherited arrhythmia syndromes predispose individuals to SCD, and the heart is usually structurally normal in these patients. Examples include: > •Long QT syndrome > •Brugada syndrome > •Catecholaminergic polymorphic VT > > These inherited syndromes, like congenital structural abnormalities, may be detected by screening tests. > > In addition, in individuals with structurally normal hearts, arrhythmic events may be precipitated by trauma or occur as sporadic/idiopathic phenomena, such as: > > •Commotio cordis, in which SCD results from being struck in the precordium with a projectile object such as a baseball, hockey puck, or fist > •Idiopathic VF, also called primary electrical disease ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-cause-sudden-cardiac-arrest-in-a-young-athlete/616221/7 "2012-03-19T18:18:48Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > There are a few individuals who have pacemaker (the sinus node type, not the implanted type) irregularities… Just a nitpick, pacemaker irregularities don’t cause ventricular fibrillation; rather, it is due to [“ectopic pacemakers”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ectopic_pacemaker) (areas beside the sinus node that start contractions, and located in the ventricles; if in the atria, it can cause atrial fibrillation, not as dangerous but poses a long-term stroke risk). Incidentally, most people, including myself, will have occasional extra heartbeats for this reason (I have several a day, identified as [PACs](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premature_atrial_contraction), but even [PVCs](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premature_ventricular_contraction) aren’t considered bad if there is nothing else wrong, but the latter can indicate an increased risk of SCD especially if they start after a heart attack). ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-cause-sudden-cardiac-arrest-in-a-young-athlete/616221/8 "2012-03-19T18:52:19Z")
I have a friend who’s very active son was recently diagnosed with a heart problem. The muscle between the two chambers is too thick, which causes the values to bump into it while pumping. This can cause the heart to go into fibrillation. A local boy recently died during football practice from the same condition. From what my friend said, his son has to ensure that his heart never beats too quickly or else he could have a heart attack. ---
**Author:** ![merrick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58956e/32.png) [@merrick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/merrick)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-cause-sudden-cardiac-arrest-in-a-young-athlete/616221/9 "2012-03-19T19:59:42Z")
Today’s Guardian had an article about [Hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy](http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/mar/18/heart-disorder-hocum-fabrice-muamba), which was the top of **QtM** ’s list and sound like it may have been what **filmore** ’s friend’s son was diagnosed with. No word if this was the cause in Fabrice Muamba’s case, though.