Prevalence of cardiographic findings in pre-participation assessments of a professional soccer club

Abstract

Objectives: To analyze the results of pre-participation tests applied to soccer players from a professional club, aiming to compare the cardiographic findings with the literature and encourage the development of new strategies for the prevention of sudden death. Methods: We used a sample group of 110 male soccer players. Stages of the study: 1) collection of data from the pre-participation tests (cardiac history, electrocardiogram, exercise test and echocardiogram) using a form covering three years (2015 to 2017); 2) tabulation of data using Word and Excel Office 2010 software; 3) comparison with the literature. Results: Of the athletes studied, 55.5% had sinus bradycardia and 14.5% had ventricular repolarization abnormalities, 33.3% showed evidence of minimal tricuspid regurgitation, and 45.7% had physiological pulmonary regurgitation. The echocardiogram presented some interesting data when compared to the adult non-athlete population. In the ergometric test, 53.6% of the athletes reached the maximum stage and 46.4% discontinued the test due to physical fatigue. Regarding arrhythmias, in 21.8% of the patients we observed rare isolated ventricular extrasystoles and in 8.2% rare isolated supraventricular extrasystoles. Conclusion: The findings corroborate data from the literature on exercise and sports cardiology, since they mainly represent physiological adaptations of the athlete’s heart. The sports physician is responsible for monitoring athletes to prevent sudden death. Level of Evidence II; Retrospective study.