Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 May 12;32(2):174-185.
doi: 10.37616/2212-5043.1047. eCollection 2020.

Cardiac Screening to Mitigate the Risk of Sudden Cardiac Death in Middle Eastern and African Competitive Athletes. A Systematic Review

Yusuf Omar Hallak  1 , Umberto Battistin  1 , Ahmad Mustafa Al-Masaeed  2
Affiliations
Review

Cardiac Screening to Mitigate the Risk of Sudden Cardiac Death in Middle Eastern and African Competitive Athletes. A Systematic Review

Yusuf Omar Hallak et al. J Saudi Heart Assoc. .

Abstract

Objective: The study aims to review the literature regarding abnormalities predisposing to Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD) in young Middle Eastern and African competitive athletes between the years 2009-2019 and aims to assess cardiac pre-participation screening methods.

Methods: A PubMed search was performed in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The search targeted articles that reported the prevalence of cardiac abnormalities found in Middle Eastern and African athletes, and it also focused on comparing cardiac screening methods for assessment of athletes.

Results: our studies fell within the inclusion criteria and were included in the study. Results identified a shortage in the literature regarding prevalence rates of SCD in the Middle East and Africa. Additionally, there seems to be a lack of ethnicity-specific cardiac pre-participation screening programs in the region. Nevertheless, the prevalence of SCD-related abnormalities (HCM, ARVC, etc …) ranged from 0.47 to 4.29%. Included studies conveyed only male athletes with no reports on the female athletic population.

Conclusion: The present study highlights a need to develop an efficient cardiac pre-participation screening program specific to Arab and African athletes due to their high false-positive rates in contrast to Caucasian athletes. Significant evidence proves that an adequate cardiac screening program can prevent SCD in young competitive athletes. Therefore, it is imperative that future studies highlight the prevalence of abnormalities directly related to SCD in order to create a valid screening program that can be implemented in the region to mitigate the risk of shocking events.

Keywords: African athletes; Arab athletes; Pre-participation cardiovascular screening; Sports cardiology; Sudden cardiac death.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:
The PRISMA flow diagram describe the literature searching process.
Illustration 1
Illustration 1
Common causes of sudden cardiac death in athletes.2
Illustration 2
Illustration 2
The differences between the ESC recommendations and the AHA recommendations for cardiac pre-participation screening in competitive athletes.7
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Prior DL, La Gerche A. The athlete's heart. Heart. 2012;98(12):947–55. [Internet].Available from: https://heart.bmj.com/content/98/12/947. - PubMed
    1. Saqib Ghani, Sanjay Sharma, Maron BJ, Doerer JJ, Haas TS, Tierney DM, et al. Preparticipation cardiovascular screening in athletes: when and how?. Cardiovascular Medicine. 15. 7-13. 2012;119(8):1085–92. Sudden Deaths in Young Competitive Athletes. Circulation.
    1. Harmon KG, Zigman M, Drezner JA. The effectiveness of screening history, physical exam, and ECG to detect potentially lethal cardiac disorders in athletes: a systematic review/ meta-analysis. J Electrocardiol [Internet] 2015;48(3):329–38. - PubMed
    1. Screening young athletes for heart disease [Internet] 2015 Available from: www.heart.org. https://www.heart.org/en/news/2018/05/01/screening-young-athletes-for-he....
    1. Corrado D, Basso C, Pavei A, Michieli P, Schiavon M, Thiene G. Trends in sudden cardiovascular death in young competitive athletes after implementation of a pre-participation screening program. JAMA [Internet] 2006;296(13):1593. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources