摘要：Sudden cardiac death in athletes is an uncommon but extremely noticable event because of the high profile of amateur and professional athletes and expected excellent health of these athletes. Fortunately, sudden death in an athlete, especially a young athlete, is a rare event. Estimates vary greatly depending on the age of the athlete, the source of the sampling population, the sports activity and the definition of sudden death. One study estimated the incidence of sudden death during exercise as one death per 100,000 athletes per year. Congenital cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of nontraumatic sudden death in athletes younger than 30 years, such as cardiomyopathy, arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia, coronary anomalies etc. In the older athletes, sudden death is generally due to arrhythmias in the context of coronary artery disease. Primarily, we should pay attention to the preventive measures such as systematic examinations and also to the resuscitation of the athletes after cardiac arrest. Early identification and disqualification of athletes affected by some cardiovascular disease at screening before participation in sports activity may have prevented sudden cardiac death.
