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Managing athletes with palpitations of unknown origin with an external loop recorder: a cohort study
- Source :
- The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness. 62
- Publication Year :
- 2022
- Publisher :
- Edizioni Minerva Medica, 2022.
-
Abstract
- BACKGROUND Palpitations in athletes are usually benign, but the presence of major cardiac arrhythmias should be ruled out despite the infrequent appraisal of symptoms. External loop recorders (ELR) are promising to identify arrhythmias in these circumstances, but experiences in athletes are lacking. We aimed to investigate the feasibility and diagnostic yield of an ELR in athletes with unexplained palpitations in a cohort study. METHODS 122 consecutive subjects (61 athletes and 61 sedentary controls) with sporadic palpitations and inconclusive diagnosis were enrolled and equipped with an ELR. Findings were categorized as major and minor arrhythmic findings, non-arrhythmic findings or negative monitoring. RESULTS Long-term ELR monitoring was feasible in all subjects, with median duration of 12 (11; 15) days. Major arrhythmic events during palpitations were found in 9 (14.8%) athletes: 7 experienced sustained paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia, and 2 had non sustained ventricular tachycardia. Minor arrhythmic events (premature supraventricular or ventricular beats) were observed in 13 athletes (21.3%). Non-arrhythmic findings (i.e., sinus rhythm or sinus tachycardia) were recorded in 28 athletes (45.9%), whereas 11 (18%) had negative monitoring. In the sedentary group, arrhythmic events were similar for types and frequency to athletes. The diagnostic yield of loop monitoring was 82.8% in the overall population and 82.0% in the athlete's group. CONCLUSIONS In the management of an athlete symptomatic with unexplained palpitations after 24-hour ECG monitoring and stress test, ELR is an efficient tool to identify major arrhythmic events, which can be present in up to 10% of symptomatic athletes during practice and competition.
- Subjects :
- medicine.medical_specialty
Sinus tachycardia
Population
Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation
Cohort Studies
Internal medicine
medicine
Palpitations
arrhythmias, cardiac
athletes
tachycardia, supraventricular
cohort studies
humans
electrocardiography, ambulatory
Humans
Orthopedics and Sports Medicine
Sinus rhythm
education
education.field_of_study
biology
business.industry
Athletes
Arrhythmias, Cardiac
biology.organism_classification
Ecg monitoring
Electrocardiography, Ambulatory
Cardiology
medicine.symptom
business
Loop recorder
Cohort study
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 18271928 and 00224707
- Volume :
- 62
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....1d7dfef9d4c4692a385b16e4e1d967d1