A six-year study found no increase in cardiac arrests or deaths among athletes during the COVID pandemic.
The study, led by the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research and published Monday in the journal JAMA Network Open, includes data from athletes ages 10 to 34. It compares episodes of sudden cardiac arrest and cardiac deaths among young competitive athletes from 2017 to 2019 with those from 2020 to 2022. The results showed there were 203 episodes before the pandemic and 184 during.
In the event of an SCA, the overall survival rate was 50.9%. SCDs occurred in 52.2% of cases before the pandemic versus 45.7% during the pandemic, the investigators said. According to MedPage Today, affected individuals had a mean age of 16.5 years — nearly 90% were ages 10 to 21. Additionally, 86.3% were males, 56.3% were White, and 39.5% were Black. The activity level at the time of SCA was characterized as “during exercise” for 70%, and “at rest but awake” for 9.3%.
The study authors acknowledge the potential for missed cases from relying on the NCCSIR database and note there was a 2.5% decline in college athlete participation from 2020 to 2021.
Findings Dispute Theories That COVID or the Vaccine Increased SCA
Dr. Jonathan Drezner, the study’s author and director of the Center for Sports Cardiology at the University of Washington, says the findings disprove erroneous claims made on social media that COVID or the vaccine caused significant heart problems.
“This cohort study found no increase in SCA/SCD in young competitive athletes in the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting that reports asserting otherwise were overestimating the cardiovascular risk of COVID-19 infection, vaccination, and myocarditis,” Drezner’s group wrote.
Dr. Aaron Baggish, a cardiologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital Heart Center, who was not involved in the study, said it the new research should “make it clear to everyone, even naysayers, that Covid was not a particularly difficult virus for young, healthy people, and that the vaccine did much more good than harm.”
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According to NBC News, theories that COVID vaccines were impacting heart health were fueled by a widely circulated video compilation posted on The HighWire in 2021 that showed news reports of athletes collapsing. NBC reports that The HighWire, an internet talk show, was founded by anti-vaccine activist Del Bigtree.
“Many athlete cases shown in social media video montages occurred before the pandemic yet claimed COVID-19 infection or vaccination raised the risk of SCA/SCD,” Drezner and colleagues noted.
Also in 2021, a separate concern linking the COVID vaccines to myocarditis — an inflammation of the heart muscle — arose. While the myocarditis signal has since been deemed legitimate, researchers never found an actual uptick in young people who received vaccines, according to MedPage Today.
With 18-month follow-up of people who had been hospitalized for myocarditis during the COVID-19 pandemic, the French study found composite clinical outcomes were more favorable if people had developed myocarditis soon after COVID-19 mRNA vaccination rather than conventional myocarditis. The risk of poor composite outcomes was also comparable between post-COVID-19 myocarditis and conventional myocarditis groups.
The debate was further stoked in 2023 when Buffalo Bills’ Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest during a game. Fortunately, Hamlin was resuscitated with CPR and an AED. Hamlin’s doctors announced the diagnosis was cardiac arrest caused by commotio cordisopens, a rare condition that can occur when the chest is struck during a critical part of the heartbeat.
While the study suggests the pandemic did not increase SCA/SCD risk in athletes, the researchers conclude “SCA/SCD in young athletes requires more robust preventative strategies.”
