The Electrocardiogram in Highly Trained Athletes

Keerthi Prakash; Sanjay Sharma

doi:10.1016/j.csm.2015.03.008

The Electrocardiogram in Highly Trained Athletes

Clin Sports Med. 2015 Jul;34(3):419-31. doi: 10.1016/j.csm.2015.03.008. Epub 2015 Apr 15.

Authors

Keerthi Prakash¹, Sanjay Sharma²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, St. George's University of London, Cranmer Terrace, London, SW17 ORE, UK.
² Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, St. George's University of London, Cranmer Terrace, London, SW17 ORE, UK. Electronic address: sasharma@sgul.ac.uk.

PMID: 26100419
DOI: 10.1016/j.csm.2015.03.008

Abstract

Regular intensive exercise is associated with a constellation of several structural and functional adaptations within the heart that permit the generation of a large and sustained increase in cardiac output and/or increase in blood pressure. The magnitude with which these markers of physiological remodeling manifest on the surface electrocardiogram is governed by several factors and some athletes show electrical and structural changes that overlap with those observed in cardiomyopathy and in ion channel diseases, which are recognized causes of sudden cardiac death in young athletes. This article provides a critical appraisal of the athlete's ECG.

Keywords: 2010 ESC criteria; Athlete's heart; Cardiomyopathy; Electrocardiography; Ethnicity; Primary electrical disease; Refined criteria.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Athletes / classification*
Cardiomyopathies / diagnosis*
Cardiomyopathies / prevention & control
Death, Sudden, Cardiac / prevention & control*
Diagnostic Tests, Routine
Early Diagnosis
Electrocardiography / standards*
Humans
Mass Screening / standards
Physical Examination / standards
Sports Medicine / standards*