March 4, 2021

Prevalence of Inflammatory Heart Disease Among Professional Athletes With Prior COVID-19 Infection Who Received Systematic Return-to-Play Cardiac Screening

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Clinical Characteristics and Health Care Setting

Keywords (Tags): clinical characteristics, report, sports

• Cardiac screening among professional athletes recovering from mild COVID-19 or asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection (n=789) identified 5 athletes (0.6%) with imaging evidence of inflammatory heart disease that resulted in restriction from play. Screening occurred a median of 19 days after a positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR test, though 202 (26%) athletes were diagnosed by antibody testing alone. 460 (58%) athletes had symptomatic COVID-19 and 329 (42%) were asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic. Screening procedures included a blood test for troponin, electrocardiogram, and resting echocardiogram. Athletes with abnormal screening tests were referred for additional testing, including cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and/or stress echocardiography.

Martinez et al. (Mar 4, 2021). Prevalence of Inflammatory Heart Disease Among Professional Athletes With Prior COVID-19 Infection Who Received Systematic Return-to-Play Cardiac Screening. JAMA Cardiology. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamacardio.2021.0565