Collateral Health Issues Derived from the Covid-19 Pandemic.

At the end of 2019, a new coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak occurred in Wuhan, China, and spread throughout the world despite efforts to contain the virus. At the end of January 2020, the General Director of the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, and by mid-May 2020, the worldwide number of known Covid-19 cases had surpassed 4.4 million including more than 300,000 deaths..

Recommendations for return to sport during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

In this viewpoint we make specific recommendations that can assist and make the return to sport/exercise as safe as possible for all those impacted - from the recreational athlete to the elite athlete. We acknowledge that there are varying rules and regulations around the world, not to mention the varying philosophies and numerous schools of thought as it relates to return to sport/exercise and we have been cognisant of this in our recommendations. Despite the varying rules and circumstances around the world, we believe it is essential to provide some helpful and consistent guidance for return to training and sport for sport and exercise physicians around the world at this most difficult time. The present viewpoint provides practical and medical recommendations on the resumption to sport process.</p

Recommendations for return to sport during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

In this viewpoint we make specific recommendations that can assist and make the return to sport/exercise as safe as possible for all those impacted - from the recreational athlete to the elite athlete. We acknowledge that there are varying rules and regulations around the world, not to mention the varying philosophies and numerous schools of thought as it relates to return to sport/exercise and we have been cognisant of this in our recommendations. Despite the varying rules and circumstances around the world, we believe it is essential to provide some helpful and consistent guidance for return to training and sport for sport and exercise physicians around the world at this most difficult time. The present viewpoint provides practical and medical recommendations on the resumption to sport process

Infographic. Clinical recommendations for return to play during the COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 AND RETURN TO PLAY The world of sport has recently returned to training and competition following suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is concerning that a number of athletes have tested positive for COVID-19 after returning to competition. 1 Numerous authors have attempted to address return to play given the importance and complexity of the issue, with notable attention on possible cardiac implications.2–6 SCOPE OF THE INFOGRAPHIC The specific recommendations shown in the present infographic (figure 1) have been generated by a panel of international experts and represent a compilation of the numerous approaches used to inform resumption of regular sports during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the different regulations around the world and the particular characteristics of each sport, it is essential to provide informative, consistent and specific guidance for safe return to training and competition at this most difficult time. ..

High Resolution ECG for Evaluation of QT Interval Variability during Exposure to Acute Hypoxia

Ventricular repolarization instability as quantified by the index of QT interval variability (QTVI) is one of the best predictors for risk of malignant ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. Because it is difficult to appropriately monitor early signs of organ dysfunction at high altitude, we investigated whether high resolution advanced ECG (HR-ECG) analysis might be helpful as a non-invasive and easy-to-use tool for evaluating the risk of cardiac arrhythmias during exposure to acute hypoxia. 19 non-acclimatized healthy trained alpinists (age 37, 8 plus or minus 4,7 years) participated in the study. Five-minute high-resolution 12-lead electrocardiograms (ECGs) were recorded (Cardiosoft) in each subject at rest in the supine position breathing room air and then after breathing 12.5% oxygen for 30 min. For beat-to-beat RR and QT variability, the program of Starc was utilized to derive standard time domain measures such as root mean square of the successive interval difference (rMSSD) of RRV and QTV, the corrected QT interval (QTc) and the QTVI in lead II. Changes were evaluated with paired-samples t-test with p-values less than 0.05 considered statistically significant. As expected, the RR interval and its variability both decreased with increasing altitude, with p = 0.000 and p = 0.005, respectively. Significant increases were found in both the rMSSDQT and the QTVI in lead II, with p = 0.002 and p = 0.003, respectively. There was no change in QTc interval length (p = non significant). QT variability parameters may be useful for evaluating changes in ventricular repolarization caused by hypoxia. These changes might be driven by increases in sympathetic nervous system activity at ventricular level