Arrhythmias & electrophysiology
Toxicology Screening in Sports-Related Sudden Cardiac Death: A Multinational Observational Study
Authors' conclusion
Sports-related SCD mainly occurred in younger men with structural heart disease. They had a significantly lower prevalence of a positive toxicology screening compared with non-SrSCD, and detection of SCD-associated drugs was rare.
Study context
- Population
- Sudden cardiac death (SCD) aged 12 to 49 years with complete post mortem, Denmark, Spain and Australia219 (7%) sports-related
- Participants
- 3,189 participants
- Exposure
- Sports-related SCD vs non-sports-related SCD
- Sports-related sudden cardiac death (SrSCD)n = 219
- Outcome
- Postmortem toxicology findings
Methodological detailsmultinational
- Multinational
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Positive toxicology screening
P < 0.001
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Age
P < 0.001
Male sex
P < 0.001
Death caused by structural cardiac disease
P = 0.038
SrSCD with positive vs negative toxicology
- Unexplained deaths, positive vs negative toxicology
- 59% vs 34%
- SUD, positive vs negative toxicology
- 59% vs 34%
- Patient characteristics similar
Toxicology findings in SrSCD
- Nonopioid analgesics (most common finding)
- 3%
- SCD-associated drugs detected
- 6%
Original publication
Toxicology Screening in Sports-Related Sudden Cardiac Death: A Multinational Observational Study. JACC Clin Electrophysiol. Published 20 December 2023. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →