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HowToPreventHeartDisease.com |
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How Did Sudden Death Occur Among Runners? A 28-year-old seemingly healthy young man collapsed during a US Olympic marathon trial, a race that he had run many times. Another research scientist aged 50 died shortly after his return from the New York City Marathon. The scientist died because of cardiac arrest (heart attack) that was caused by a clot in his coronary artery. His death may or may not be related to the marathon, but running the marathon might be a very likely reason for his death. This is because when exercising, one’s blood will get stickier and this may raise the chance of clot forming. The clot probably formed during the marathon. The young runner was found to have an enlarged heart when he was 14, so does it mean that he should not be allowed to become a marathon runner at all. Nevertheless, according to cardiologist specializes in heart disease in athletes, the issue is not so simple since most elite athletes have hearts that are enlarged by their exercise regimen.
The size of the heart is not the only concern, we also need to look at whether the walls of the heart were thicker than normal, forcing the heart to work harder to pump blood. When this happens, a potentially dangerous condition known as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which is responsible for a quarter of sudden deaths in American athletes. However, such symptom is quite rare: only 1 in 500 people have the disorder. There is no way to distinguish between these 2 conditions: one is benign while the other is potentially lethal. There have been calls from health experts about pre-screening runners thoroughly before any big run. In fact, guidelines have been prepared by doctors from the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation to help doctors screen athletes for sudden death. The process involves asking questions that focus on spotting potential heart problems through a personal and family medical history and a physical examination. Yet most doctors admit that it is not perfect as athletes with certain abnormalities can still be missed through that process. For the young athletes, the inherited condition of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is mostly the cause, but for those over 35, other heart problems can cause sudden death as well. It is important to note that sedentary men over 40 and women over 50 should be screened before starting any vigorous exercise program. Pre-screening cannot guarantee athletes from sudden death. One should aware that this all lies with the balancing of risk of participating in sports against the benefits, and it is true for everyone. Even with the underlying heart abnormality, the young runner did not always cause problems. He even went through extensive performance tests twice a year, measuring things like oxygen usage and heart rate during intense exercise, and he always had excellent results. Moreover, the medical tests he took also cleared him for running. He never expressed any worries about his heart or potential dangers, even though he had adrenal fatigue syndrome in 2004. According to health experts, the syndrome is fairly common and it affects virtually every elite marathoner at some point in their career. Therefore, it can hardly be the cause of anything that happened in the race.
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