Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Lagos / Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Lagos, Nigeria.
Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Lagos / Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Lagos, Nigeria.
BMC Pediatr. 2021 Feb 25;21(1):97. doi: 10.1186/s12887-021-02557-8.
Strategies to prevent sudden cardiac death (SCD) among young athletes have become topical worldwide and unrecognized cardiac pathology has been identified as a leading cause. Black ethnicity has been reported as an independent predictor of abnormal electrocardiography (ECG) findings among athletes and the frequency and significance of training-related ECG findings versus findings suggestive of an underlying pathology in the young African athletes is crucial.
This cross sectional study aimed to determine the prevalence and distribution of ECG patterns in young athletes and controls. A total of 360 participants (180 athletes and 180 controls) were recruited from six secondary schools in Lagos, Nigeria between November 2014 and July 2015. Evaluation included interviewer-administered questionnaires for relevant history, physical examination and resting 12 - lead ECG for each participant.
Abnormal ECG patterns were found in 48.3% of athletes and 35.6% of controls. Training-related ECG findings occurred in 33.3% of athletes and 18.3% of controls. Athletes and controls had 7.7% prevalence of training un-related ECG patterns respectively. Left ventricular hypertrophy was the most common ECG finding among the athletes and male athletes had a higher prevalence of ECG abnormalities compared to females.
Adolescent athletes in Nigeria have a high prevalence of training-related ECG patterns and athletes and non-athletes alike have similar proportions of ECG findings suggestive of underlying structural heart disease. Cardiovascular evaluation including ECG should be performed for young athletes prior to competition at any level and should also be considered as part of pre-school entry assessment for all children.
预防年轻运动员心源性猝死（SCD）的策略已成为全球关注的焦点，未被识别的心脏病理学已被确定为主要原因。黑种人被报道为运动员异常心电图（ECG）结果的独立预测因素，在年轻的非洲运动员中，与训练相关的 ECG 结果的频率和意义与提示潜在病理学的结果相比是至关重要的。
这项横断面研究旨在确定年轻运动员和对照组的心电图模式的患病率和分布。2014 年 11 月至 2015 年 7 月，从尼日利亚拉各斯的六所中学共招募了 360 名参与者（180 名运动员和 180 名对照组）。评估包括对每位参与者进行访谈式问卷调查以获取相关病史、体格检查和静息 12 导联心电图。
异常心电图模式在 48.3%的运动员和 35.6%的对照组中发现。训练相关的 ECG 结果出现在 33.3%的运动员和 18.3%的对照组中。运动员和对照组分别有 7.7%的训练无关 ECG 模式的患病率。运动员中最常见的心电图发现是左心室肥厚，与女性相比，男性运动员的心电图异常患病率更高。
尼日利亚的青少年运动员中存在较高比例的与训练相关的 ECG 模式，运动员和非运动员的心电图结果均提示存在潜在的结构性心脏病。应在任何水平的比赛前对年轻运动员进行包括心电图在内的心血管评估，也应将其视为所有儿童入学前评估的一部分。
