An Aspetar sports physician has said that there is no proof that COVID-19 and related vaccines can cause sudden cardiac arrest.
Aspetar Sports Medicine Physician, Dr. Louis Holtzhausen explained in a video posted on social media that “there is no evidence that COVID-19 causes sudden cardiac arrest in athletes”.
"But to reduce the risk of inflammation of the heart or myocarditis, you should not exercise when you have an infection, any infection. You can start exercising again when the symptoms, especially the fever is gone," he said.
“FIFA [world governing body for football] keeps record of all sudden cardiac arrests during football all over the world and from this worldwide database, they did not see any increase in sudden cardiac arrest since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic or the start of vaccination programmes,” he explained.
Dr. Holtzhausen said common causes for sudden cardiac arrest include diseases of the heart muscle or cardiomyopathies, abnormal heart rhythm or arrhythmia, which means the electrical system of the heart is not working correctly, also, congenital abnormalities of the heart or things you are born with, and inflammation of the heart muscle of myocarditis, trauma to the chest, and coronary artery disease, which means the artery of the heart itself is blocked with something like cholesterol.
The doctor explained that myocarditis can be caused by viral infections.
“Any viral infections such as flu, gastroenteritis, infection of bowels or even COVID-19. Now, when you get gastroenteritis, most people don’t have any symptoms or the symptoms are very mild or unspecific.. you just feel tired.”
Sudden cardiac arrest among athletes are extremely rare and it happens to more or less in one of 50,000 athletes.
“In Qatar, all professional athletes get a yearly cardiac screening or a heart screening. During this screening, we find that six out of a 1,000 athletes have some sort of disease that might lead to sudden cardiac arrest, and of course we treat and do something about it. And luckily, two out of six can return with the right treatment,” said Dr. Holtzhausen.
Dr. Holtzhausen is also an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at Weill-Cornell Medical College in Qatar.
Among the symptoms of the condition are collapsing, stop breathing, no pulse, loss of consciousness. If it happens, “one needs to start CPR immediately but also call for emergency as soon as possible, by calling 999".
Sometimes cardiac arrest may happen following a few symptoms like fainting, chest pain, palpitations or the heart is pounding or racing, intense dizziness, and unexplained shortness of breath.
"If you experience any of these, you need to talk to your doctor immediately about it. But some cardiac arrest can happen without any warning at all,” he said.
As to prevent this, Dr. Holtzhausen recommended the following: get your yearly cardiac screening, do not exercise when you have any infection such as flu, gastroenteritis or COVID-19, tell your doctor if you have a family member that has a history of cardiac disease or there is a sudden unexplained death in the family, inform your doctor if you experience chest pains, fainting, palpitations, severe dizziness, or unexplained breathlessness during exercise.
“Sometimes, sudden cardiac arrest cannot be prevented; it is therefore very important that everyone on the field knows how to perform CPR, and an automated external defibrillator readily available,” he said.
