"A New Study of Athletes’ Hearts After Covid Shows Encouraging Results
Sports leagues initially feared that testing positive for Covid-19 would lead to heart damage. The first comprehensive study—on hundreds of pro athletes—suggests that is rare."
"The scary question that leagues like the NBA, NFL and MLB faced as they returned to play over the past year was how prevalent heart damage would be among players who tested positive for Covid-19. They now have an encouraging answer: It’s rare.
A new study on the topic in JAMA Cardiology is based on the screening of 789 professional athletes who tested positive for Covid-19 between May and October in Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, the National Hockey League, National Football League, and the men’s and women’s National Basketball Association.
The paper shows that 0.6% of those athletes ultimately had findings suggestive of inflammatory heart disease. Five athletes were held out of competition because of their cardiac results. Three had myocarditis, which is heart inflammation, and two had pericarditis, which is swelling of the tissue that surrounds the heart. All had had moderate cases of Covid."
The prevalence answer comes after cardiologists have reassured the rest of the population that, in general, they do not need to fear hidden inflammation when returning to exercise after asymptomatic, mild or even moderate cases of the virus.
This is because recreational athletes typically don’t exert themselves under the same pressure as professionals, and more reliably respond to warning signs such as difficulty breathing, dizziness or feeling faint, said Christopher Newton-Cheh, a cardiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital.
“Professional athletes are more vulnerable because they have a lot of incentives to really push themselves,” said Dr. Newton-Cheh. “I think they require a bit more guidance and caution…they’re more likely to be redlining it than a recreational athlete.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-heart-complications-myocarditis-exercise-study-sports-11614871544?mod=hp_major_pos1#cxrecs_s
Sports leagues initially feared that testing positive for Covid-19 would lead to heart damage. The first comprehensive study—on hundreds of pro athletes—suggests that is rare."
"The scary question that leagues like the NBA, NFL and MLB faced as they returned to play over the past year was how prevalent heart damage would be among players who tested positive for Covid-19. They now have an encouraging answer: It’s rare.
A new study on the topic in JAMA Cardiology is based on the screening of 789 professional athletes who tested positive for Covid-19 between May and October in Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, the National Hockey League, National Football League, and the men’s and women’s National Basketball Association.
The paper shows that 0.6% of those athletes ultimately had findings suggestive of inflammatory heart disease. Five athletes were held out of competition because of their cardiac results. Three had myocarditis, which is heart inflammation, and two had pericarditis, which is swelling of the tissue that surrounds the heart. All had had moderate cases of Covid."
The prevalence answer comes after cardiologists have reassured the rest of the population that, in general, they do not need to fear hidden inflammation when returning to exercise after asymptomatic, mild or even moderate cases of the virus.
This is because recreational athletes typically don’t exert themselves under the same pressure as professionals, and more reliably respond to warning signs such as difficulty breathing, dizziness or feeling faint, said Christopher Newton-Cheh, a cardiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital.
“Professional athletes are more vulnerable because they have a lot of incentives to really push themselves,” said Dr. Newton-Cheh. “I think they require a bit more guidance and caution…they’re more likely to be redlining it than a recreational athlete.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-heart-complications-myocarditis-exercise-study-sports-11614871544?mod=hp_major_pos1#cxrecs_s