1. Arrhythmias and Adaptations of the Cardiac Conduction System in Former National Football League Players
- Author
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Aagaard, Philip, Sharma, Shishir, McNamara, David A, Joshi, Parag, Ayers, Colby R, de Lemos, James A, Lincoln, Andrew E, Baranowski, Bryan, Mandsager, Kyle, Hill, Elizabeth, Castle, Lon, Gentry, James, Lang, Richard, Dunn, Reginald E, Alexander, Kezia, Tucker, Andrew M, and Phelan, Dermot
- Subjects
Prevention ,Cardiovascular ,Heart Disease ,Adaptation ,Physiological ,Adult ,African Americans ,Aged ,Atrial Fibrillation ,Cross-Sectional Studies ,Football ,Heart Conduction System ,Humans ,Male ,Middle Aged ,Prevalence ,United States ,Whites ,athlete's heart ,atrial fibrillation ,conduction disease ,National Football League ,White People ,Black or African American ,Cardiorespiratory Medicine and Haematology - Abstract
Background Habitual high-intensity endurance exercise is associated with increased atrial fibrillation (AF) risk and impaired cardiac conduction. It is unknown whether these observations extend to prior strength-type sports exposure. The primary aim of this study was to compare AF prevalence in former National Football League (NFL) athletes to population-based controls. The secondary aim was to characterize other conduction system parameters. Methods and Results This cross-sectional study compared former NFL athletes (n=460, age 56±12 years, black 47%) with population-based controls of similar age and racial composition from the cardiovascular cohort Dallas Heart Study-2 (n=925, age 54±9 years, black 53%). AF was present in 28 individuals (n=23 [5%] in the NFL group; n=5 [0.5%] in the control group). After controlling for other cardiovascular risk factors in multivariable regression analysis, former NFL participation remained associated with a 5.7 (95% CI: 2.1-15.9, P
- Published
- 2019