College athletes rarely have heart problems a year after undergoing COVID-19

College athletes who became infected with COVID-19 and returned to sports have a low risk of developing life-threatening heart problems, according to a new study showing that a rigorous heart test is not required.

A study published Thursday in the Journal of the American Heart Association Circulationresearched the relevant 2021 study that sought cardiac complications among athletes suffering from COVID-19. This latest study covered athletes from 27 sports at 45 U.S. colleges and universities.

While a previous study found only about 1 in 170 student-athletes Due to the development of cardiac problems with COVID-19, researchers wanted to make sure they did not miss a single potentially fatal heart problems due to less than optimal testing methods.

Thus, they followed 3,675 athletes during the year after they returned to sports, including 21 who had already been diagnosed with certain or probable inflammation of the heart or damage to the heart muscle.

The study found that a year later only one athlete had an adverse cardiovascular outcome – a type of irregular heartbeat called atrial fibrillation – that may have been related to COVID-19. The researchers found no life-threatening arrhythmias, heart failure or cardiac arrest associated with coronavirus.

“This is very encouraging in an era of bad news pandemics,” said Dr. Aaron Begish, lead author of the study.

“(Fear) that we miss a silent illness and put someone at risk was pretty well dispelled in this article,” said Begish, director of the cardiovascular program at the Massachusetts Cardiology Center at Boston General Hospital.

Based on the new findings, the authors of the article said that MRI tests of the heart should not be performed by all athletes with COVID-19, but only by those who have heart muscle inflammation or other warning signs such as chest pain or difficulty breathing.

“Uncomplicated COVID-19 infection seems to give an extremely low risk of something bad in terms of the heart in the future. The vast majority of athletes who have COVID-19 and are completely cured do not need testing,” Begish said.

He said the study was limited to the observational nature, adding that it was important for clinicians to closely monitor athletes to determine the long-term effects of COVID-19 on the cardiovascular system. And he said he plans to engage in the future college athletes with existing cardiovascular problems.

“We need to go back and start asking questions about the safety of sports and children heart diseasethe same issue that interested us before the pandemic, and we will take care after the pandemic, ”Begish said.

Dr Ravi Dave, who was not involved in the study, said the study was limited to tracking the health of athletes for one year. He called for longer-term research, including research into how COVID-19 variants affect athletes heart health. Dave said he would also like to see future research on middle-aged and older people who play sports.

But overall, he called the new study encouraging.

“This is a well-done study with important data confirming the fact that in young athletesHeart disease is a rare condition with very few side effects, ”said Dave, director of interventional cardiology at UCLA Health in California.

“Patients also need to understand that these results demonstrate the benefits of exercise and overall health,” he said. “This is especially important when fighting a viral infection.”

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